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HISTORY 



OF THE 



131st Penna. Volunteers 



WAR OF 1861-5. 



. x! 

By Capt. Joseph R. Orwig. 



Published by direBion oj the 131st Regimental Association Compiled 
and edited by the Historical Committee : 

WILLIAM SWEELEY, M. L. WAGENSELLER, J. R. ORWIQ. 



WILI>IAMSPORT, PA.: 

THK SUN BOOK AND JOB PRINTING HOUSE. 

1902. 



t5Z7 
.5 



IS.!,-? PS" 









HISTORY 



OF THE 



131ST PENNA. VOLUNTEERS, 

WAR OF 1861-5. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE 131st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, was re- 
cruited from the following counties : Lycoming, North- 
umberland, Union, Snyder and Mifflin ; the companies 
being from the following towns : A, from Lewisburg, Mifflin- 
burg and vicinity ; B, Watsontown and vicinity ; C, Shamokin, 
Sunbury and vicinity ; D, Lewistown and vicinity ; E, Milton 
and vicinity ; F, Selinsgrove, Middleburg and vicinity ; G, Wil- 
liamsport; H, Muncy and vicinity; I, Williamsport and Jersey 
Shore; K, Lewistown and vicinity. 

THE GREAT EMERGENCY OF 1862. 

The excitement incident to the organization and equipment 
of the troops and their departure for the seat of war, in 1861, 
under the first call of President Lincoln, was, if possible, in- 
tensified a year later, when a call for 300,000 men was made. 
It was a very dark day in the history of our country. The 
defeat of the Union troops under McDowell, at Bull Run, was 
followed by the greater disaster, the defeat and retreat of the 
army under General McClellan on the Peninsula, after a series 
of battles in front of Richmond. Political dissensions also 
loomed up in threatening magnitude to dishearten the national 
leaders, and correspondingly elevated the hopes and redoubled 
the energies of the rebels. 

In the cfi^orts which followed the great, uprising after the 
battle of Bull Run, previous calls had taken' awa.}^ most of our 
young men, and those most ready and willing to enlist, so that 



4 HISTORY OF THE 

this call for more men required still greater sacrifice, and the 
appeal came to men whose environments, family and business 
ties seemed to forbid their going. But in the face of defeat 
and notwithstanding unfortunate partisan influences, the call 
to duty could not be resisted, and greater sacrifices must be 
made by the men who would respond to the call to save our im- 
periled country. 

The call of July, 1862, for 300,000 men, was supplemented 
by an arrangement which provided for the enlistment of men 
for a period of nine months. To expedite organization, men 
were ofifered commissions who should recruit a certain num- 
ber of men. Under this call the 131st Regiment was recruited. 

RECRUITING FOR THE WAR. 

When the President's call for volunteers was made in July, 
1862, the writer, who had previously served as a private in the 
three months' service, placed his newspaper interests in the 
MifHlnhnrg Telegraph, then just recently founded, in the care 
of a trusted and competent partner, the late Charles E. Haus, 
and hastened to Lewisburg, where great excitement then pre- 
vailed and strenuous efforts made to hasten the filling of the 
quota for the county. A conference resulted in an agreement 
that J. M. Moyer should recruit the captain's quota, and J. R. 
Orwig and Joseph W. Kepler the first and second lieutenant's, 
and that we should assemble at Lewisburg as speedily as pos- 
sible, and thus harmoniously and quickly organize a company, 
which was the full quota for the county. This was done, and 
the company officers were mustered, bearing date August 6th, 
1862, by Captain Lane, of the Twelfth United States Infantry, 
at Harrisburg. The other companies in quick succession. 
Throughout Lycoming, Northumberland, Snyder and ad- 
joining counties, where the other companies who were to be- 
come members of the i3Tst Regiment, these devoted and patri- 
otic home supporters of our government and its great armies 
in the field, gave their time and their means, their sympathy 
and encouragement to the cause, and by their care for the de- 
pendent ones, deprived of their natural support, stood by the 
soldiers and performed a grateful and patriotic service in behalf 
of their country, second only to that of the men who took their 
lives in their hands and went to the fronts and met and over- 
came the enemy, and preserved our beloved Union. These 
home scenes among the people, when our armies were recruit- 
ed, present a vivid section of the greater picture — the great up- 
rising of a nation, wrestling successfully with treason, and 
rising greater and stronger from the conflict, giving lustre 



jjrst PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 5 

and reflecting imperishable renown upon the United States, and 
elevating her to a leading rank among the great powers of the 
world. At these recruiting scenes fathers and mothers were 
giving their sons for the battlefield as nobly as any recorded in 
classic song or story. Death stood in their presence, for the 
daily papers were then filled with long lists of killed and 
wounded in the battles, down where the armies were meeting 
in the conflict, some of whom were comrades and playmates 
of the men who were enrolling their names for the Army of 
the Potomac in the 131st. 

A year of war had passed, and we were beginning to real- 
ize that the battlefield was now the great Supreme Court where 
should be finally determined, not only the perpetuity of the 
Union, but also the question of human slavery. 

This insidious enemy — slavery — seemingly secure in the 
folds of the Constitution and our laws, was warmed into life 
and activity by its devotees, and now, viper-like, it was striking 
its fangs into the vitals of the Republic. But this overt act 
also placed it outside the protection of the seemingly unchange- 
able law, and it was committing felo de se. Abraham Lincoln 
saw and he sealed its fate forever by his proclamation. Thus 
a long-suffering and trusting and hopeful people were led by 
a Providence in a way they knew not, through this great na- 
tional convulsion, to a better, loftier and more enduring place 
among the nations of the earth. 

Troops were hurrying to Washington, and the scenes 
along the great highways of railroad travel presented an in- 
tensely interesting object lesson. It was a panoramic view, up- 
on a scale of great magnitude never before recorded. This 
new American Republic springing to arms in a fratricidal war ! 
Passenger cars failed utterly to fill the requirements of trans- 
portation, and box cars, platform cars, and anything available, 
were quickly brought into rec[uisition by the great makers and 
movers of commerce — the railroads — and the new lives who 
were voluntarily offering their services were whirled away to 
the conflict. 

All the men did not always rise to the necessities of the 
occasion, and there was no little complaint at times, especially 
by the recruit who probably had never been in a railroad car 
before. They reasoned, doubtless, as they were giving them- 
selves willing sacrifices upon the altar of their country, they 
ought to be carried to the war "on flowery beds of ease," or at 
least in first-class passenger cars. 



6 HISTORY OF THE 

The railroads through our several counties — the Pennsyl- 
vania and the Northern Central — were representative arteries 
which throughout the North were pouring in men and treas- 
ures from East and West, and we were nov/ about to step into 
this great vortex. The people along the railways, in every 
city, town and hamlet, exhausted every conceivable method of 
patriotic demonstration, in order to show their loyalty and to in- 
dicate a hearty "good bye" and a "Godspeed" to the valiant ones 
who were going to the front to aid our armies and to subdue 
the rebels and save the American Union. Lewisburg was the 
home of our Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Hon. Eli 
Slifer, in whom the officers and men of the 131st had a friend 
at court, in all matters pertaining to the enlistment of troops 
and their care and success. Transportation and every neces- 
sary arrangement for our speedy arrival at Harrisburg had 
been made by those in authorit3^ 

THE REGIMENT AT HARRISBURG. 

These were strange sights and experiences for the new 
volunteers, just from their quiet farm and village homes and 
peaceful pursuits in Central Pennsylvania. Camp Curtin, then 
al)out two miles north of Harrisburg, was Pennsylvania's great 
military rendezvous throughout the war^ and it was now ex- 
periencing one of its periods of special activity, under urgent 
calls of the President and the Governor, to which the men of 
the 131st were responding. 

Twenty-one regiments — Pennsylvania's quota — were to 
be organized and sent at once to the arrnv in the field. The 
recruits were pouring into this great military camp, severally 
and by companies and regiments, as the result of the efiforts 
as detailed, throughout other counties of the State, of which 
our recent experience, up in the heart of our State, was only 
a representative scene. 

It would be difficult to imagine the thoughts of these men 
as they mingled with the great mass. As the scenes are re- 
called in fancy the pen would make but a sorry picture, if the 
attempt were made, or set forth on the printed page. They 
came from the farm, from the store, from the school-room, and 
represented all the various vocations of life. The law student, 
the miner, the theological student, the craftsman, the manufac- 
turer and the laboring man — all voluntarily relinquishing 
homes — and their individuality, even — and henceforth "accord- 
ing to size" they would "fall in" and stand together, shoulder 
to shoulder, "obey orders," and in the fiery ordeal of battle 
would save the country from the enemy of our flag. And it is 



isnt PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 7 

wonderful how easy such a conchtion becomes, under such cir- 
cumstances, and is of interest, also, as a social problem. Here 
caste and poverty alike were eliminated. Henceforth the rich 
and the poor, the divinity student and the miner, the law stu- 
dent and the laborer, the city lad and the farm boy — all submit- 
ted willingly and cheerfully to a "detail" to perform any duty 
assigned, from the most menial service to the most heroic. Side 
by side they will dig trenches or bury a mule ; picket an outpost, 
or make a bayonet charge upon the enemy ; perform clerical 
services at a general's headquarters or be cook for the com- 
pany, and as all the sol'diers know, the labor was sweetened 
by the patriotic sense of duty. Not only these soldierly duties 
were thus performed, but, as it was subsequently well estab- 
lished, that almost every one of these Northern volunteer regi- 
ments' soldiers could be depended upon to furnish a detail to 
hold a court, build a railroad, man a boat, print and edit a 
newspaper, operate a mine or cultivate crops ; or, indeed, per- 
form any or all service necessary to the government, which the 
exigency of the war for the Union might possibly impose upon 
them. 

We all entered upon our tent lives with avidity. Camp 
kettles and canteens, camp fires and rations, all was novelty, 
but right merrily did all take hold and most successfully did 
these men adapt themselves to their new relation. But home 
and friends and "the gal I left behind me" were now relegated 
to the inner consciousness, and the camp, the duty of the sol- 
dier, with all the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war/' 
alone should henceforth be manifest and give tone and prompt 
the actions of the new citizen soldiers. 

The first duty, now that we were snugly in camp, seemed 
to require that the company organizations should be completed. 
The first days spent will be remem])ered by officer and men as 
presenting many interesting incidents, the details of which 
would lend interest to these pages could the stories be told. 

Some of these are submitted which occurred in Company 
A, and were repeated with variations in each of the companies 
so soon to become associated in the 131st. 

IT W.\S ALL so NOVEL. 

Most of the men were not much over eighteen years of age, 
and a number of them were younger. How they expected to pass 
the mustering officer, and how they subsequently did pass, it is 
not recorded. None were put down as less than eighteen, and 
one — William Dollard — was put down at forty-five. He must 
have been nearer fiftv-five. But eighteen and fortv-five were 



8 HISTORY OF THE 

the limits as to age. Notwithstanding youth, the tenderness of the 
home-leaving, or the gravity of the new relation — a volunteer 
soldier — many of them for the first time beyond the farm or their 
village homes, the "boys" gave themselves alike to duty and the 
lighter pastimes of the camp, as merrily, seemingly, as the very 
kittens at play. It was all so novel. Housekeeping by camp 
fires, and the tents, and every one his own cook, laundry- 
man and housekeeper, and withal an American soldier, sworn 
to obey nobody and nothing save the Constitution and the offi- 
cers ! Henceforth they must respond to every call, for any duty 
required. They must "fall in" — how familiar that command 
became — and according to size, without a question, regardless 
of wealth,' character, fitness, social or "other previous condi- 
tion." 

The school of the soldier and of the company^what the 
respective duties and how shall they be performed? These were 
exercising the minds of the thoughtful and those who were 
responsible. The new sergeants and corporals, the private sol- 
diers and the commissioned officers, all in a sort of "town-meet- 
ing"'-like manner, determined for the first time upon the place 
of each — officer and private, from the highest rank to the 
shortest private at the end of the ranks. Thus companies and 
regiments were first formed, and appeared in "magnificent ar- 
ray" on the company grounds. What a train of memories now 
are started as we glance over the muster rolls, and contemplate 
the proud record which they made ! 

Many amusing incidents probably ought to be recorded 
to indicate the way the men deported themselves. It was not 
in the mind of any one present, probably, to make a note at 
this time^ for that purpose, and it has been found that now, 
after the lapse of so many years, it is difficult to gather the 
experiences from the actors themselves. What was going on in 
the Union county company was probably nearly a representa- 
tive case for many of them, wherever regiments were recruited. 

When this company was formed for the first time it was 
found that the tall men, who were modest, had to be ordered 
to the front, and the small ones who had been bold, had to be 
ordered to the rear. Sergeants and corporals of various sizes 
had been chosen, long and short ones, so that when its officers 
for the first time got them into ranks, and every one, including 
the officers, found their places, and the company stood in line — 
our first formation — it was such a gratifying success that soon 
all the little misunderstandings and disappointments incident 
thereto, were either entirely forgotten or never spoken of again. 
None of the men, probably, ever forgot the examining officers, as 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 9 

their unceremonious and seemingly heartless and rude meth- 
ods were unfolded to every member of the companies. They 
were probably excusable, but their hurried demand upon the 
recruit that he should appear before them just as Ham saw his 
father, was not a little shocking', and their hurried examina- 
tions and the wonderful evolutions through which they passed 
them, were bewildering, and their several experiences were long 
sources of jest and merriment, even to the day of muster out. 
One man was rejected. The woe-begone look of private Wil- 
liam r)ordner indicated how greatly he was disappointed when 
he returned and reported that he had been rejected. He was 
a first-rate young man, determined to go, and he shed tears of 
disappointment because he had recently scalded his foot with 
molten iron, and for this cause he had been declared incapa- 
citated. He begged that we should intercede for him, and after 
an interview with the examining officer he agreed to a re-exam- 
ination. The man w-as, in all other respects, so well fitted, that 
although they feared, they nevertheless yielded to his appeals 
and permitted him to pass. He did excellent service and was 
a good soldier, but that recreant foot got him into trouble. On 
a forced march in Virginia, when his company was detailed to 
conduct an ammunition train through the enemy's coun- 
try, the foot began to inflame and soon placed 
him hors dn combat. He was compelled to fall out, no ambu- 
lance or other escape available. We left him most reluctantly, 
and he was soon picked up by the rebels, who were hanging 
upon our rear, and he became a prisoner to the "Johnnies." 
After many months he was exchanged, and being- incapaci- 
tated for further service, he was honorably discharged. 

How the men got their new uniforms, and how they got 
into them, will be among the amusing incidents which none of 
tiiem can ever forget. All found out that for their comfort, 
as well as for appearance, it was necessary to seek exchange of 
goods, and many exchanges were necessary before all were 
fairly fitted, for every soldier drew a uniform just as he drevy,a 
mui;ket or a ration. The companies were marched to the quar- 
l"ermaster's department to be uniformed — caps, blouses, panta- 
loons, underclothing, shoes and stockings. It proved an event- 
ful day. The department was a busy place, as may well be sup- 
posed. Rush orders for 24.000 men, to be rigged out cap-a- 
pie, all in a hurry to be ofif on important business — to Wash- 
ington and the South ! Business had necessarily to be expe- 
dited, and the clerks had become expert salesmen. They just 
look the muster roll of the companies, and. as each name was 
called, the bill was charged against the soldier, and the whole 



10 HISTORY OF THE 

outfit was most unceremoniously flung at the astonished man. 
The boys said the suits were aU one price and were "all wool 
but the Imttons, and they were of rams" horns." a witticism 
which became common during the war whenever and wher- 
ever clothing was issued to the men. It required but a short 
time to supply a company, but it was a sight ! That instantaneous 
change from citizen to soldier. A cap would fall to a diminu- 
tive recruit which would cover his head below the ears, or 
shoes that were too large or too small ; pantaloons that were 
too long or too short, and coats too wide or too narrow. The 
men only had time to get out of their citizen suit and get into 
the military tacklings. What a ridiculous transformation as 
each emerged in the lot which he had drawn ! Then there was 
a hustling for exchanges. The ill-fitted latitudinous ones 
sought out the ill-fitted spare ones. The tall men with short 
pantaloons sought for the short ones with the longer ones ; 
the big heads with the small caps for the little heads with the 
big caps — each sought the other to find the goods of his size, 
and there was no end of the merriment occasioned by the highly 
ludicrous occitrrences of that hour or two when we were uni- 
formed. But all were ultimately nearly fitted, and probably 
only one who could not get shoes large enough. His case was 
remedied, temporarily, in a very simple manner — by cutting ofif 
the shoes an inch or two, thus liberating his imperiled toes. 
The captain later on put in a special requisition for one pair of 
shoes — size i6! 

Then express packages flew thick and fast homeward — 
they were the citizens' clothing, which would henceforth be 
"contraband" in the knapsack of the soldier campaigning down 
in Dixie, and would be dangerous in the possession of a good 
soldier. 

FORMING THE REGIMENT. 

Camp Curtin did not present a striking resemblance to 
West Point or Annapolis. Officers of various rank — from gen- 
erals to lieutenants and sergeants and corporals, in squads, sec- 
tions, and by companies and regiments, were busying them- 
selves in camp, morning, noon and night, in the intricacies of 
their duties, the position of the soldier and the various move- 
ments, steps, changes of direction necessary in drilling. At the 
same time the organization of a regiment representing the 
interior or central portion of the State, was agitating the minds 
of the aspiring ones, and the authorities, and a keen rivalry, 
often reaching an intensity not unlike that to be seen upon the 
eve of a political State convention, when candidates are to be 
chosen as .standard bearers of the dominant party of the State. 



13 1 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 11 

The Union county company had friends at court. The 
Governor and the Secretary of the Commonwealth were per- 
sonally acquainted with many of the men, whose parents were 
their friends and neighl)ors. Their early arrival also entitled 
them to first place in a new regiment of the central counties. 

All were looking forward to an early departure for the seat 
of war, down in Virginia. The cities of Philadelphia, Alle- 
gheny and Lancaster counties seemed to be receiving considera- 
tion first in the matter of regimental organization and trans- 
portation southward. But the association of ten interior coun- 
ty companies upon the parade grounds, now indicated that the 
organizaiton problem had finally been solved. The grouping, 
geographically, also seemed to be a natural association, and in- 
dicated an agreement having the good of the service only in 
consideration. The Union county company, Lieutenant Orwig 
commanding, was at the right of the line, and with us were 
nine other companies — the first formation of the T3ist Regi- 
ment — representing our neighboring counties of Lycoming, 
Northumberland, Snyder and Mifflin — one company each from 
Union and Snyder, two from Mifflin, and three each from Lycom- 
ing and Northumberland. The Union county company claimed 
to represent the home of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 
and it was given the place of honor, and was henceforth to lie 
known as Company A. The other companies of the new regi- 
ment were first placed according to the following arrangement, 
and were so recorded in the adjutant general's department, up- 
on the records at Harrisburg : Company B, Capt. Jose])h S. 
Waream, of Lewistown ; Company C, Capt. David Bly, of VVat- 
sontown ; Company D, Capt. Thomas R. Jones, of Sunbury; 
Company E, Capt. David McManigal, of Mifflin ; Company F, 
Capt. Isaiah B. Davis, of Milton; Company G, Capt. George 
W. Ryan, of Middleburg ; Company H, Capt. Charles P.. Davis, 
of Williamsport ; Company I, Capt. Benjamin F. Keefer, of 
Mimcy ; Company K. Cai)t. Frank T. Wilson, of Jersey Shore. 
This formation, however, was not maintained, and the change 
led to considerable confusion throughout the service, and sub- 
sequently. In the final adjustment, after all rivalries ceased, 
and all the questions of rank and position were harmonized, the 
roster was made up as follows, and the regiment received the 
numerical number 13T of the line, with the following field, 
staff and line officers, in the order indicated, and in whicli order 
they served throughout their term of service : 

Colonel, Peter H. AUabach. of Harrisburg; Lieutenant- 
Colonel, William !>. Shaut, of Williamsport; Major, Robert 



12 HISTORY OF THE 

W. Patton, of Lewistown ; Surgeon, John F. Huber, of Lan- 
caster; Adjutant, Samuel H. Pollock, of Milton; Quartermas- 
ter, C. J. A. Chapman, of Luzerne ; Assistant Surgeons, L. R. 
Kirk, of Chester, and David J. Evans, of Berks county ; Chap- 
lain, C. W. Sanders, of Selinsgrove ; Sergeant-Major, R. S. 
Parker, of Lewistown ; Quartermaster-Sergeant, William F. 
Thompson, of Williamsport ; Commissary-Sergeant, Henry M. 
Edwards. 

Company A. — Captain, Jacob M. Moyer, of Lewisburg ; 
First Lieutenant, Joseph R. Orwig, of Mifflinburg ; Second 
Lieutenant, Joseph W. Kepler, of Lewisburg. 

Company B. — Captain, David Bly, of Watsontown ; First 
Lieutenant, Joseph G. Hutchison, of Watsontown ; Second 
Lieutenant, Joseph M. Irvin, of McEwensville. 

Company C. — Captain, T. R. Jones, Lewisburg Univer- 
sity ; First Lieutenant, Joseph Reeder, of Shamokin ; Second 
Lieutenant, Andrew N. Brice, of Sunbury. 

Company D. — Captain, David A. McManigal, of Mifflin ; 
First Lieutenant, David B. Wilson, of Hartleton ; Second Lieu- 
tenant, D. D. Muthersbaugh, of Lewistown. 

Company E. — Captain, Isaiah B. Davis, of Milton ; First 
Lieutenant, William A. Bruner, of Sunbury ; Second Lieuten- 
ant, William H. Wolfe^ of Lewisburg. 

Company F. — Captain, George W. Ryan, of Middleburg; 
First Lieutenant, Lewis Miller, of Globe Mills ; Second Lieu- 
tenant, Jeremiah Snyder, of Selinsgrove. 

Company G. — Captain, Charles B. Davis, of Williamsport ; 
First Lieutenant, James M. Wood, of Williamsport; Second 
Lieutenant, George W. Jack, of Williamsport. 

Company H. — Captain, Benjamin F. Keefer, of Muncy; 
First Lieutenant, Robert S. Maxwell, of Muncy ; Second Lieu- 
tenant, De La Green, of Muncy. 

Company L — Captain, Frank T. Wilson, of Jersey Shore ; 
First Lieutenant, James M. Wolf, of Waterville; Second Lieu- 
tenant, Albert D. Lundy, of Williamsport. 

Company K. — Captain, Joseph S. Waream, of Lewistown ; 
First Lieutenant, Grant F. Waters^ of Lewistown ; Second 
Lieutenant, David B. Weber, of Lewistown. 

Colonel Allabach was a citizen of Harrisburg, a dentist by 
profession, and had been in the service in the war with Mexico. 
His commission bore date of August i6, 1862. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 13 

Lieut. -Col. William B. Shaut was a resident of Williams- 
port, and by occupation a journeyman tailor. 

Maj. Robert W. Patton, of Lewistown, was a jeweler, and 
engaged in mercantile piirsuits. 

Adjt. Samuel H. Pollock, of Milton, was a student, the 
son of ex-Governor James Pollock. 

The quartermaster and surgeons did not join the regiment 
until some time after our departure from Harrisburg. Cap- 
tain Moyer, of Company A, was detailed as ciuartermaster, and 
subsequently in the commissary, and continued to serve in these 
positions, with brief intervals, during the time he remained 
with the regiment. His brother, George W. Moyer, was ap- 
pointed commissary sergeant, but was discharged soon after 
tlie captain left the service. Captain Moyer was tendered the 
position of ciuartermaster, but declined and sought the position 
in the conniiissary in accordance with his rank as captain, the 
official rank of a quartermaster being that of a lieutenant. 

The turmoil incident to the organization of companies and 
regiment, and all the regiments of Camp Curtin, was now 
happily over, and was quickly forgotten in the greater events 
which were so soon to occupy the attention of the new soldiers 
on the great battlefields of recreant old Virginia. 



14 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER II. 

OFF TO THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 

44/^RDERS FOR WASHINGTON!" This was the cry 
V_>/ that rang throughout our camp on the evening of 
the 17th of August, and it only required a look to 
convince you that something important had taken place, from 
the hurried movements of men and the gathering of crowds in 
company streets ; and then cheers were soon heard from every 
direction, and it was known that orders had been received at 
regimental headquarters for our immediate transportation to 
Washington to join the gathering armies at the National Capi- 
tal. The military situation in Virginia was alarming, and 
was the exigency which so hurriedly demanded these large 
levies, aroused our State to such enthusiasm and necessitated 
the first steps toward a draft in order to carry on the war. 
General McClellan had failed in his advance upon Richmond 
by way of the Peninsula, and the Army of the Potomac was 
massed in a defensive attitude at Harrison's Landing, on the 
James river. His battles are known as the seven days' battles, 
commencing on the 25th of June, 1862, and ending on the ist 
of July. General McClellan's attitude towards the President 
and the War Department ; the menacing attitude of Great Brit- 
ain and France ; the activity of the rebel agents to secure for- 
eign intervention ; the discouragements of defeat and the 
threatened resistance to enlistments and the draft in New York 
and elsewhere, all conspired to give the most serious alarm at 
Washington and to the loyal citizens throughout the North. 
Generals Fremont, Banks and McDowell were so placed as 
to constitute the defense of the Capital upon the movement of 
the Army of the Potomac to the south of Richmond. General 
Pope had command of three army corps extending their lines 
from Fredericksburg up to the Shenandoah valley. These ex- 
tended Washington defenses were now in danger of being 
overwhelmed, as was feared at Washington, by the rebel army 
under Lee. McClellan's retreat rendered co-operation of the 
LTnion armies impossible. The country was in a state of in- 
tense excitement and alarm. 

The same day, August 3, General McClellan was ordered 
to withdraw his army from the Peninsula, via the James river 
and the Chesapeake bay to Aquia and Alexandria, on the Poto- 
mac. But on the 15th of August, and before McClellan began 
to leave the James, the rebel army under Lee had been divided, 



ijist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 15 

the Richmond wing to guard against McClellan, and the main 
body to move overland one hundred miles north, and was 
threatening to overwhelm General Pope before the Union 
armies could be united. On the i8th of August, the day the 
regiment left Harrisburg for Washington, General Pope's en- 
tire line was compelled to retire before General Lee. The main 
body of McClellan's army evacuated the camp at Harrison's 
Landing on the 17th, and embarked at Williamsburg, York- 
town, Newport News and at Fortress Monroe, on the 20th. 
This was what a bird's eye view of the situation at the front 
disclosed. It was a crisis in the war for the Union never again 
ec[ualled in importance and magnitude of dangers, and it re- 
quired no prophetic vision to forsee that our new regiment 
would find serious work ahead. 

We learned to look upon marching orders in a somewhat 
different light later on. Although, such was the monotony of 
camp life, that soldiers were unusually eager for a movement of 
the army, notwithstanding the dangers which it implied. 

The few weeks of preparation in Camp Curtin had been 
effective, and it was remarkable how quickly companies and 
regiments could be formed with new recruits, at least to ap- 
pear effective ; although we learned subsequently that it re- 
quired constant, long and severe drilling and discipline to ac- 
quire that skill which would enable a company or a regimen* 
to be moved quickly and compactly at the word of command, 
especially in the presence of an enemy or in battle. 

It was on the i8th of August when we left Camp Curtin 
and boarded a train of box cars for Washington. No one 
looking upon such a body of soldiers going to war could fath- 
om what was going on in their thoughts. They had long be- 
fore measured and mastered what would be new to and what 
would likely be expressed by the lookers-on. There was noth- 
ing perceptible, nor did it ever become apparent, even when in 
line of battle and ready to charge upon the enemy, that there 
was any fear ; or that men would exhibit any other than at 
least an outward and cheerful obedience and ready compliance 
to orders. It was with cheers and every demonstration of 
pleasure that the command to "fall in" was received by the 
regiment. The usual activity along the way by patriotic citi- 
zens in their demonstrations of loyalty were only calculated to 
increase the buoyancy of s])irit. If there were fears they were 
repressed by the individual, and none would be likely to know 
of their existence, llie journey to Washington was without 
incident. The approach to places of historical interest were 



16 HISTORY OF THE 

pointed out by those familiar with the route to the National 
Capital ; the destroyed railroad bridges, the vicinity of the home 
of the noted rebel, Harry Gilmore, the city of Baltimore, Relay 
Station, historic Bladensburg, were successively pointed out — 
then the first glimpses of Washington — each were lustily 
cheered by the enthusiastic soldiers. We arrived on the same 
day over the Northern Central railway. Washington was 
thronged with soldiers, but all was calm and orderly, and every 
effort seemed to be to hasten reinforcements south of the 
Potomac. We remained only until next day, when we were 
ordered South and marched down to and across the Potomac, 
upon the "sacred soil of Virginia." 

TREADING THE "SACRED SOIL." 

We marched through the streets of the city of so many sol- 
diers. One of the daily papers noted the fact in a disparag- 
ing comment that a Pennsylvania regiment passed over into 
Virginia with its colonel and staff, in citizens' clothing, march- 
ing afoot at the head of the column. But the new uniforms of 
the men, their fine physique, full ranks, compact columns and 
good marching, was also recognized. Our colonel had been to 
war before, and so had many others among the ofiicers and 
the men. The flippant reporter, probably, was an average 
Washington City man, whose praises of men and military skill 
were confined to the south side of the Potomac. 

Colonel Allabach was a man of commanding figure, and as 
his splendid regiment of men of the Susquehanna and Juniata 
valleys of the old Keystone State marched proudly behind him, 
he was not disconcerted by his partial equipment, knowing the 
great emergency which necessitated it, and being fully prepared 
for all needful sacrifices that were necessary. As we passed 
down to the long bridge— that great gateway to the Virginia 
battlefields — the White House, the Washington monument — 
then unfinished — the Smithsonian Institute, and other objects 
of general interest were observed and pointed out, and had a 
diverting effect. The Potomac River is upon tide water there, 
and the great wooden bridge is low, seemingly little above the 
water, and at times it fairly swung to the tread of the mass of 
the columns, as the marching soldiers, some of them singing 
"Away down South in Dixie," slowly passed over, and then 
trod the "sacred soil of Virginia." 

The men were eager and light-hearted, and gave no evi- 
dence of appreciation of the "sacredness" of that soil. There 
was not wanting, perhaps, a sense of the ridiculous, on the part 
of many, as they contemplated this marching column. The 



1 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 17 

officers were nearly all in citizens' clothes, and with other mili- 
tary equipments. Many of the men in the ranks had previously 
gone over this same ground in the three months' service, and 
these now recalled the scenes through which they had passed 
hefore in the memorahle Bull Run campaign, when the first 
troops passed over the Potomac, and hefore any of the massive 
forts, which now encircled the Virginia side of the Capital, had 
heen constructed. 

Arlington Heights, just before us, were then the "observed 
of all observers," from both sides of the Potomac, as the home 
of the Lees, and looking back towards Washington City, its un- 
finished capitol dome loomed up in equal prominence. The long 
range of low hills, extending southward beyond Alexandria, 
were then occupied by the rebels, and their hateful flag fluttered 
defiantly in sight of the White House. All along that ridge the 
beautiful homes were then surrounded with groves and lawns, 
and were occupied by the families, largely, of those who were 
then over in the ranks of the enemy. Alexandria could be dis- 
tinctly seen to the left, where a number of the men of the regi- 
ment stood as sentinels in its streets, soon after the intrepid young- 
leader, the gallant Colonel Ellsworth, had first occupied the city 
and met his cruel and premature death. Fort Ellsworth, in the 
construction of which they assisted, could be seen ahead. Be- 
yond that, towards Cloud's Mills, they held the outer picket 
lines, and they eagerly recalled their first skirmish with a rebel 
raiding party, and their first victim to their prowess, when they 
killed the leader, named Haines, who was found to have recently 
been a clerk in one of the departments of the Capitol at Wash- 
ington, and was well-known in Alexandria. His body, thrown over 
a rail, was thus carried into camp when the pickets returned. 
In his pockets was found a pass which directed that he should 
be allowed to pass a number of men with their horses to a 
smithshop. He probably did a little raiding upon the Union 
lines upon his own authority, and paid the penalty by a forfeit 
of his own life. The terrible events of the first Bull Run battle 
were recalled as the men went marching on, and contrasted the 
wonderful transformation which had taken place since then. 
We were now upon the grounds occupied by General McClel- 
lan's army during that long period of preparation following 
Bull Run, and now we were daily looking for the return of that 
army. The beautiful homes and groves had been leveled and 
removed, and a long line of great forts and camps of soldiers 
stretched out before us as far as the vision extended. All these 
were being hurriedly filled for the impending crisis in our war 
for the Union. 



18 HISTORY OF THE 

The cheerful spirit of the men was doubtless heightened 
by these recitals, and the scene so new and the events so re- 
markable, into the midst of which we were marching. They 
alternately sang "Dixie Land" and "Marching Along," al- 
though the dust and a Southern August sun seemed to be con- 
spiring to drown the ardor of these new soldiers. The sun was 
already going down beyond the hills and the forts before we 
were halted for the night at the camp designated for our stay un- 
til being properly equipped. Our first march in a regiment had 
been made. There was very little "straggling," an evidence of 
good discipline so far, as that unsoldierly ofifense is always re- 
garded as the fault of the officers. But there was a high 
tension of excitement, not unlike that of an army massing for 
a battle, on account of the various movements of the great 
armies about us, and the enemy approaching, and this condition 
doubtless had the eflfect of keeping the men close to their files. 
Then we went into bivouac at Camp Chase, near the large Fort 
Albany, dust covered and weary, and after a hurriedly prepared 
supper of hardtack and cofifee, all were soon sleeping the sleep 
of the just. 

TENTING ON THE OLD CAMP GROUND. 

It was now the 21st day of August. The 131st was "tent- 
ing on the old camp grounds," and mingling with the "300,000 
more" who were about to reinforce the Union armies and de- 
fend our newly imperiled Capital. Two great Union armies 
were likewise converging from opposite directions, upon this 
vicinity, the old Army of the Potomac, under McClellan, and 
the recently consolidated Army of Virginia, under General 
Pope, together more than 200,000 men. The new Pennsylvania 
troops were being massed under orders from Washington, by 
provisional brigades, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Silas Casey. 

The officers of the 131st now availed themselves of the first 
opportunity to uniform and equip themselves for active ser- 
vice. Those who had not secured these at Harrisburg now sent 
orders to Washington City. We were busy in our new camp. 
Besides drilling, requisitions were made for all needful supplies, 
including arms, accoutrements, tents, blankets, etc. The regi- 
ment was not destined to dwell much in tents, and received 
but few, until the "dog tents" were issued. These were not wall 
tents, nor of the Sibley kind, but consisted of small sections of 
canvas, with buttons at one end and button-holes at the other, 
so arranged that several might be readily attached, and two or 
three men soon learned to do this and quickly improvise a 
"shelter" fairly covering the prostrate forms of the occupants. 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 19 

for at no other time did they expect shelter in 
the i^reat campaigns upon which they were entering. 
When the men arose they took them up, unbuttoned them and 
stowed them, with ah their other possessions — "household goods 
and wares" — in their knapsacks, which, with their arms, cart- 
ridge boxes, canteens and haversacks, constituted all their pos- 
sessions. 

BRIGADE DIVISION AND CORPS. 

The officers of the regiment had thus far very little op- 
portunity of becoming acquainted, but they lost no time in do- 
ing so, and entered upon a comradeship so genuine and so real, 
alike satisfactory and honorable and enduring. An incessant 
drill was kept up. It was drill, drill, drill, morning, noon and 
night, until sometimes it seemed it would stir up a mutiny. But 
it did not. We were not only becoming skillful in the perform- 
ance of military evolutions, but the equally important physical 
condition, which would enable us to perform the long marches 
and rapid movements, which this preparation of endurance was 
so well calculated to secure through those toilsome drills. The 
men who sometimes complained and stated that they could not 
understand why we should be thus exercised, were not taking 
into consideration what our officers were looking forward to — 
a campaign of military service, with one of the largest armies 
in the world, and a record of imperishable honor to every duti- 
ful soldier whose name was borne on the muster rolls. 

On the occasion of our first evening dress parade our offi- 
cers appeared in their new spic-and-span uniforms and the in- 
teresting ceremony was exceedingly satisfactory and gave as- 
surance of efficiency and skill as a regiment. We listened for 
the first time to the "reading of orders," the means of convey- 
ing all official information to armies. The following is a copy 
of the first order read to us, and will serve to locate us in the 
formation of the new army : 

Headquarters Provisional Brigades. 
Aug. 21, 1862. 
Special Orders, i : The following named regiments will 
constitute the Third Provisional Brigade, under the command 
of Col. Peter H. Allabach, 131st Pennsylvania Volunteers, viz: 
I32d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Captain Shreeve; 
133d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Captain Koep- 
ler : i3Tst Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel Alla- 
bach; 134th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Colonel 
Quay. 



20 HISTORY OF THE 

Colonel Allabach is authorized to issue passes to these reg- 
iments, not exceeding ten per day to each. He is also charged 
with the policing of the camp. By command of 

Brjg.-Gen. Silas Casey. 
H. W. Smith, A. A. G. 

Headquarters Provisional Brigade. 
Special Order No. 29: — i. It is made the duty of colo- 
nels commanding regiments to see that their troops have 100 
rounds of ball cartridges to each man ; forty rounds will be kept 
in the cartridge boxes of the men, and sixty rounds in store. 

By command of 

Brig.-Gen. Silas Casey. 
Henry W. Smith, A. A. G. 

We were also informed that we would be supplied with amis 
at once and fully equipped to take the field in active service. We 
continued our active drilling, by squad, by companies and by 
regiment, and in a few days received our arms. They were very 
disappointing. They proved to be an indififerent lot, known as 
Austrian rifles. We had rumors that our regiment was to re- 
ceive these rifles, and the men assumed that a very good impres- 
sion of our possible service must have been made upon our 
commanders. We associated rifles with sharpshooting, or other 
special service — but, alas ! our guns materalized and our illu- 
sions were dispelled. They were not rifles, nor even a good or- 
dinary gun, but an indififerent lot of arms — a job lot — which 
were refused and condemned. We, however, soon received the 
best arms in the service — a splendid Springfield musket. Com- 
pany A drew ninety-five of these, together with all the accoutre- 
ments, and this represented our fighting strength at this time. 
The entire regiment drew 957. These young Pennsylvania sol- 
diers evidently felt that a good musket in the hand in ' an 
emergency is a great conservator of both energy and bravery. 

The personnel and material of the new regiment and bri- 
gade — all Pennsylvanians — was now recognized by the 
competent commanders whose duty it was to assign the new 
lines in the Army of the Potomac, now so sadly in need of re- 
inforcements. And well might they do so. They were four 
thousand well-armed, fully-equipped men, sufficiently drilled, 
who volunteered, leaving their homes and pursuits of civil life, 
and were eager to take the field and engage in battle to save 
their imperiled country. 

There was one member of Company A, and there were a 
number of others in the retriment, whose zeal in eflforts to fa- 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 21 

miliarize himself with the use of his new gun, and to test the 
virtues of the powder and hall, was led beyond the limits of 
good order and military diseipline, which prohiljit indiscrimi- 
nate shooting in camp. It was real Yankee inquisitiveness only 
which prompted this fine young soldier, not yet eighteen years 
old, to take his gun to a remote corner of camp, and coolly begin 
firing away. Of course it caused an alarm. The offender was 
speedily arrested and his company commander was notified. 
This honest and zealous young soldier explained that he simply 
wanted to know if his cartridges were good, and he thought his 
arrest was quite a mistake, and that it had occurred on account 
of the verdancy of a new officer who ordered his arrest, and 
who had no shooting to do ; but, notwithstanding the foolish- 
ness of that officer, the young soldier had to perform extra 
police duty for a half hour, as he put it, just for finding out in 
advance that our ammunition was good. 

IN THE GREAT ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 

It has already been noted that the 131st was assigned to a 
brigade. Orders now speedily followed assigning the regiment 
a place in brigade, division and corps in the great Army of the 
Potomac. Colonel AUabach was assigned to the command of 
the brigade. The temporary loss of our colonel was generally 
regretted, although the compliment of his assignment was ap- 
preciated. The permanent appointment of a commander soon 
followed, and it was, to the men, as well as to the colonel, a 
good degree of satisfaction when upon dress parade the follow- 
ing order was read : 

August 23, 1862. 

General Order No. 48: — i. The 123rd, 131st, 133rd and 
134th Regiments, Pennsylvania \^olunteers, will constitute a 
brigade. 

2. Brig.-Gen. John Cook, who has reported for duty to 
these headquarters, by order of the general-in-chief, is assigned 
to command the brigade. General Cook will at once organize 
his stafif, and proceed as rapidly as possible in the discipline and 
drill of his brigade. By command of 

Brfg.-Gen. Silas Casey. 
Harry W. Smith, A. A. G. 

This order was followed l)y the new commander's first or- 
der, also read at dress parade: 

Headquarters General Cook's Brigade. 

Camp Chase. Va., Aug. 25, 1862. 
General Orders No. i : — i. Pursuant to special orders No. 



22 HISTORY OF THE 

48, from headquarters of Brig.-Gen. Silas Casey, the under- 
signed hereby assumes command of the Third Provisional Bri- 
gade. 

2. The following officers having reported for duty to the 
brigadier-general commanding, will be recognized and obeyed 
as a part of the staff : Col. P. H. French, Volunteer, A. D. C. ; 
Capt. B. F. Smith, United States Volunteers, Asst. Adjt.- 
Gen. ; Lieut. William L. Mann, Sixth N. Y. Cavalry, A. D. C. ; 
J. B. Fully, Sixty-ninth N. Y. S. M., Acting A. Q. M. 

3. Morning reports will be made daily at 9 o'clock. 

4. No officer or enlisted man will be permitted to go 
further than one mile from camp, without a pass from his bat- 
tallion commander, approved at these headcjuarters, and every 
such pass must embrace a good and sufficient cause, otherwise 
they will be disregarded. 

5. All communications addressed to these headquarters 
must pass through the assistant adjutant-general. 

6. Until the system of tactics adopted by the War De- 
partment can be obtained, the troops will be instructed at least 
four hours each day in the system known as Hardee's. 

By order of 

John Cook, 
Brigadier-General United States Volunteers, Commanding. 

The next order, it will be seen, again assigns Colonel Alla- 
bach to the command of the brigade, and turns our new Penn- 
sylvania regiments over to the command of General McClellan, 
in the Army of the Potomac : 

Headquarters Camp Chase, 
Aug. 28, 1862. 

General Orders No. 4: — i. The brigade comprised of the 
123d, 131st, 133d and 134th Pennsylvania Volunteers, in pur- 
suance to orders from headquarters provisional brigades, Wash- 
ington, D. C, having been turned over to A^laj.-Gen. George B. 
McClellan, commanding Army of the Potomac, in pursuance 
to orders from headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, until 
further orders, the command will devolve upon Col. P. H. Alla- 
bach, commanding the 131st Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

2. The colonel commanding will see at once that the com- 
mand is immediately provided with 100 rounds of ammunition, 
in accordance with general orders headquarters provisional bri- 
gades. General Casey commanding. 



isnt PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 23 

3. Colonel Allal)ach will also sec that his coniniand is at 
once provided with live days' rations. 

By order of 
Brigadier-General Cook. 
B. F. Smith, Captain and A. A. G. 

There was a rapid succession of orders incident to the re- 
organization of armies and the stirring events impending in 
Virginia, hut the final orders assigned the 131st Regiment to 
the Second Brigade, Third Division, commanded by Gen. A. A. 
Humphrey, Fifth Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Fitz John 
Porter. General Briggs was also assigned to commancl the 
Second Brigade, but illness prevented him from taking the com- 
mand, and the colonel of the 131st, Col. Peter H. Allabach, con- 
tinued in command as the senior colonel of the brigade. 

AT CAMP FORNEY AND FAIRFAX SEMINARY. 

We remained in no one place but a short period on accoimt 
of the shifting scenes between the McClellan and Pope armies, 
and after a short stay in Camp Chase, we occupied several 
camps, prior to our departure on our first great campaign, which 
ended with the battle of Antietam. 

In the light of subsequent events, of interest, personally, 
to officers and men, and for the purpose of submitting all the 
available historical matter submitted for publication, the fol- 
lowing letter from the Hon. Eli Slifer, secretary of the common- 
wealth, is given, which led to the appointment of our gifted and 
popular sergeant-major of the 131st, who was killed at the bat- 
tle of Fredericksburg : 

Herr's Hotel, Harrisburg, Pa. 

^ . Aug. 16, 1862. 

Colonel Allabach, * 

Dear Sir: This will be handed you by a son of my friend 

Parker. The young man desires the position of sergeant-major 

of your regiment. I understand he will be proposed by Major 

Patton. I can only say that he belongs to a good family, and I 

should be pleased to hear of his success. 

Truly yours, 

Eli Slifer. 

The 134th Regiment, Col. M. S. Quay, was transferred to 
the First Brigade, General Tyler, same division, and the 155th 
Pennsylvania, Colonel Allen, was substituted. This regiment 
was from Western Pennsylvania, but had in its ranks a young 
lad. a Mifflinburg boy, the gallant John Luther Fehrer. By 
reference to Bates' History it will be seen that after serving 



24 HISTORY OF THE 

with credit in the great campaigns during our service, his regi- 
ment, being a three-years' organization, participated in nearly all 
the great battles of the Army of the Potomac. He was a musi- 
cian in Company K, and the muster rolls record his accidental 
drowning, April 25, 1865. 

When in camp near Fairfax Seminary, where we continued 
our drill, drill, drill, Lieut. Jeremiah Snyder, of Company F, 
rendered his resignation from the service. It was not immediately 
accepted, and he remained with his company until after the bat- 
tle of Antietam, when it was accepted and he retired. He was a 
student of the Mifllinburg Academy, and subsequently engaged 
in the practice of law at Selinsgrove and Sunbury, and later 
represented Northumberland county in the Legislature. 

The 131st was now undergoing severe active service. The 
Army of the Potomac was encamped all about us — extending 
from Alexandria and Aquia Creek beyond our camp towards 
Bvill Run, and many of them were sent to the support of Pope. 
Evidences of disaster were not wanting. That army was hard- 
pressed, and it seemed strange that so large a number of sol- 
diers should be in these camps when so much needed near-by. 
The music of the enemy's cannon and the sound of battle was of 
daily occurrence. The new troops were wonderfully well freight- 
ed with ammunition and rations, and our officers were alert and 
moved us from point to point where our services might be 
needed. We were especially in demand for fatigue duty, and 
large details were sent out, and drill, drill, drill, was the order 
in camp. Such orders as the following indicate the use made of 

us ■ 

Headqxjarters WnirPLE s Division. 

Sunday, Sept. 10, 1862. 
Special Order No. 132: Colonel Allabach will detail 
three hundred men (300) to report to Captain Migley at Fort 
Blenker, to work on entrenchments. The detail will report at i 
o'clock, this day. By order of 

Brigadier-General Whipple. 
H. R. Button, A. A. G. 



The only soldier's letter of this date that is available, is one 
written by Private Harry G. Stees, a member of Company A, 
which is given in full. The writer was killed in the charge upon 
the stone wall at Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg, to which 
reference will be more fully made in the order of events, but this 
fact adds interest and pathos to the young writer's patriotic 
letter. 



iSrst PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 25 

A SOLDIER'S LETTER. 

From 131ST Pennsylvania Rkgimknt, 

Camp Fornf.y, Sept. 12, 1862. 

To Ihc Editor of the ]\Iiifliitbitrg Telegraph: 

At last, after many delays, I find myself seated to write to 
old Union county friends. My last left us in Camp Chase, 
where we remained only a few days. While there we had very 
little active service to perform, except to drill, but one evening 
after supper we received orders to be ready to march in half 
an hour. Accordingly tents were struck and every preparation 
was made for a move. A short time before dark we set out, in 
the direction of Bull Run, but where we were going was a mys- 
tery. After marching through woods, dust, and rough roads, 
about six miles, we halted and bivouacked for the night and 
placed our pickets. It was on a level plain, near the pul)lic road. 
Morning found us all anxious to know our destination, but, 
after waiting and listening for the sounds of battle ahead, we 
were ordered to pitch our tents. We were pleased with this 
camp ground, and it was named Camp Allabach, in honor of 
our colonel. Perhaps we were too well pleased, for we were not 
permitted to remain long. At noon, on August 30, we heard 
heavy firing all day, and especially severe in the afternoon. You 
will know before we will what it was all about. We were again 
moved out in that direction, and afterwards to a camp on a hill 
near Fort Ward. Here we remained for some time. We did 
not have our tents, but we were finding out how we could make 
ourselves comfortalile without them, with our army overcoats 
and blankets — if it didn't rain. But on Sunday morning it be- 
gan to rain in full earnest. Many, not on duty, sought shelter in 
the surrounding barns or houses, or any nook that offered shel- 
ter, but many stood to their camp and quietly and sullenly 
breasted the storm. It continued to pour until after noon, when 
our regiment was put out on picket duty. At the post where I 
was stationed we found a sheet-iron stove, some pans, and there 
was a cornfield near-by, all of which was found quite con- 
venient and very suggestive, for our bill of fare did not include 
a great variety. We had no alarm at night, which was a very 
dark one, and the rain continued. After being relieved in the 
morning some lively skirmishing for rations took place — some 
for apples, some for peaches, and others for corn. You see we 
were not likely to sufi^er hunger. We returned to camp next 
evening, all dripjMng wet, weary and muddy. 

The next night about 12 o'clock, six companies of the 
regiment were sent out on the picket line, and the rest of us were 



26 HISTORY OF THE 

taken in the breastworks. On Monday night we were again 
sent out on duty at Cloud's Mills. On Wednesday evening we 
were marched away from Camp Ward to our present camp, 
named after Pennsylvania's distinguished editor of The Press, 
Col. John W. Forney, of Philadelphia. We have here a battery 
of artillery, but no breastworks thrown up. It is reported they 
are inducing old Stonewall to cross the Potomac north. If he 
does we will try to do him justice. 

The boys are all well with a few exceptions, and all are 
anxious to have a brush with the rebels, and I hope the time is 
coming soon when the 131st will have a chance at them. I think 
they are all brave boys and good soldiers, and all are wishing to 
do their share. I need not say that the officers are the same. A 
good portion of them are old soldiers. 

The boys are considerably dissatisfied with their arms. We 
have the Austrian rifles — a poor gun — and many of them are 
damaged. Any soldier would be dissatisfied if he found him- 
self in danger, or if he was to do his duty, and his gun was use- 
less. I understand, however, that our officers have taken steps 
to have them condemned, and that other arms are here, said to 
be the fine Springfield musket. It is the general opinion that 
Companies A and B will be the skirmishing companies, and 
that they will be armed with the little Sharp's rifles. 

I think that some time after this we will make a tour to 
New Orleans, via Richmond, and return home by some other 
rebel city ; but ere this happens we must, of course, necessarily 
catch old Stonewall. It is reported we march this afternoon. 

More anon, 

Harry. 



/J I si PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 27 



CHAPTER III. 

THE I'OPE CAMPAIGN. 

THE story of the struggles of General Pope in that eventful 
campaign from the hanks of the Rapidan and the Rap- 
pahannock to within the defences of the city of Washing- 
ton, following the hattles and retreats of General McClellan on 
the Peninsula, and his recall to Washington will probahly for- 
ever mark the most critical period of our national existence. The 
last throes of slavery and its adherents were convulsing the na- 
tion. On one side its hosts, under Davis and Lee, were ar- 
rayed, a solid, compact force, permitting no divided councils, 
bent upon the disunion of the States and the establishment of a 
confederacy, under a new flag, and its cornerstone, slavery. On 
the other side, for the Union, under Lincoln and his generals, 
were divided councils "half free and half slave." But the great 
body of the people of the North now began to recognize the in- 
evitable necessity for the destruction of what was not only the 
cause of the war, but that the utter destruction of slavery was a 
necessary condition for the success of the National armies, as 
well as the subsequent peace and harmony of the United States. 
Our statesmen and our generals were divided on these points, 
and these differences were the great peril of the time, and they 
had much to do with the failures of the recent battles of these 
remarkable campaigns, as well as some of those following, with 
which the history of the 131st is identified. But the loyal peo- 
ple were equal to the occasion, the leaders were forthcoming, 
slavery was destroyed, and the great American Union was 
saved. 

Out upon the front lines of the Union armies and among 
our pickets the problem of the slave's status had been settled. 
Experimentally there was no slavery, and there could be none. 
The boys in blue had learned that a black man could be depend- 
ed upon as a friend, though he might l)c the property of a man in 
the rebel army. The soldiers eagerly took his advice, depended 
upon his information, accepted his services and looked upon him 
as an ally. Generals Butler, Hunter and Fremont had been 
compelled to interpret this view in orders, which, however logi- 
cal, brought them to grief at the time, but the slave was "contra- 
band." General McClellan and others, and their partisan friends, 
held different views, and maintained that slavery nnist be de- 
fended, and the slave could not be a soldier, and must not be in- 
terfered with in his legal relations with his master. In a letter 



28 HISTORY OF THE 

to President Lincoln, on July 27th, 1862, when yet at Harri- 
son's Landing, just after his defeat, General McClellan wrote : 
"Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the re- 
lations of servitude, either by supporting or impairing the au- 
thority of the master." It was a cue to all the friends and apol- 
ogists of slavery. It was no part of his duty to advise the Pres- 
ident upon the government's relation to the problem, but his 
letter was seized upon and made the rallying cry of a powerful 
organization, and which was so disastrous in its results, array- 
ing Northern men one against the other in divisive strifes and 
party bitterness, when the whole power of the government and 
the people, in one harmonious effort, was necessary to success. 
"The Constitution as it is and the Union as it was," was chosen 
as a rallying cry by those opposed to President Lincoln, and 
General McClellan became their candidate for president. The 
Constitution, it was true, did securely, seemingly, embrace 
slavery in its folds, and this part of this motto was in harmony 
with their purpose — but the other was a misfit — "The Union as 
it was," was not. 

These unfortunate but inevitable partisan and personal 
quarrels among the generals more than account for the failures 
of both the Army of the Potomac and the armies of Northern 
Virginia, under Pope, in the closing scenes of which the 131st 
had some participation, and witnessed some of its most disas- 
trous results and humiliating scenes. 

The brigade to which we now belonged included about 
4,000 men. There were many other newly enlisted troops, not 
only from Pennsylvania, but from otlier States. The bulk of 
the old Army of the Potomac were encamped about us, all \m- 
der the sound of the enemy's guns at that fatal Second Bull Run 
battle ! 

None of the men will likely ever forget the scenes and in- 
cidents of the coming together of these great armies, under the 
unfortunate conditions surrounding them, and with which we 
were to mingle our fortunes. The long marches and many bat- 
tles of the closing campaigns, ending in defeat, gave the veter- 
ans anything but a holiday appearance, and their bronzed faces 
and worn uniforms were in striking contrast with the new 
troops, all newly equipped and uniformed. 

Immediately after the Second Ptull Run and Chantilly bat- 
tles the i3Tst was on duty well out on the Warrenton turnpike. 
Here we encountered a great many of the scattered forces com- 
ing from those battles. They were generally without arms and 
made a sorry appearance, and their "tales of woe" were anything 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 29 

but assuring. The men of the 131st met many of their Pennsyl- 
vania friends in these old regiments, many of whom were roy- 
ally entertained as they came into our camp. One of these, it 
is recalled, who was entertained at headquarters of Company 
A, was Private George W. Foote. of Company E, Fifty-first 
Pennsylvania, and now the spirited editor of the Miftiinhnrg 
Times, who may yet be able to attest the hospitality of the 131st 
on that memorable occasion. It is not our province to write the 
story of those campaigns ; but it is something forever, to be 
proud of, for every member of the 131st, and all those who par- 
ticipated honorably in them, and who stood so faithfully at this 
perilous period in the cause of the Union, and the events which 
mark an era in the progress of our great country and of civili- 
zation. The Union generals who were so solicitous about 
slavery soon dropped out of the service. The battle for which 
all the troops were now concentrating about the Capital, and 
which soon followed — Antietam — determined the final over- 
throw and extinction forever of the institution of slavery in the 
United States ! The victim — the long-suflfering, patient slave — 
looked on, philosophized, and his logical conception of the situ- 
ation was popularized in song, which rang through all the 
armies and the States : 

" De massa run, ha, ha ! 
De darkie stay, ho, ho ! 
It must be now de kingdom's comin' — 
De year of ju-bi-lo." 

The want of co-operation between the generals commantl- 
ing our armies was apparent. General McClellan was relieved 
of his command. General Pope requested that he be relieved 
and be returned to a Western command. General McClellan, in 
a letter to the Secretary of War Stanton, declared that "if he 
could not control all the troops he did not want any of them." 
The government at Washington was placed in the position which 
made it necessary either to dispense with the services of a num- 
ber of able generals or else place McClellan again in command. 
General Lee, with a comparatively small army, had defeated all 
our armies in Virginia, and was almost in sight of Washington 
with his victorious army, and was marshaling all the available 
power of the Confederacy in order to secure Maryland, transfer 
the war to the North, and secure the much desired foreign inter- 
vention which was pressed with all the vigor its agents could 
summon. 

President Lincoln was equal to the great emergency. He 
placed General McClellan in command and obtained the sup- 
port of the recalcitrant generals, and sent General Pope to St. 



30 HISTORY OF THE 

Louis, and at the same time came to a conclusion as to his duty 
to the country in regard to the question of the disturbing ele- 
ment which was threatening the life of our country — slavery. 
Lee was defeated at South Mountain and Antietam, after which 
slavery was abolished forever in the United States by the Presi- 
dent's proclamation. 

OUR FIRST REVIEW. 

Active discipline and preparation was continued among the 
new troops. On the 9th of September, Colonel AUabach re- 
ceived the following from General Whipple : 

Headquarters Division, 
Sept. 9, 1862 
Colonel Allabach, Commanding Brigade : The general will 
be happy to review your brigade at 6 o'clock this afternoon. 

Very respectfully, 

Henry Button, A. A. G. 

This event took place as indicated, and was our first review. 
We went through the toilsome ceremony many times subse- 
quently, but the novelty of this one under all the circumstances, 
gave it unusual interest, and was observed by thousands of criti- 
cal witnesses of the old armies, who were encamped around us. 
We were newly uniformed, armed and equipped, and our regi- 
ment had full ranks, which made them appear to the old soldiers, 
whose ranks had been sadly decimated, like so many brigades 
or divisions. Our successful manoeuvres and creditable per- 
formances in manual of arms were satisfactory to our officers, 
and won unstinted praise upon all sides. 

ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 

Our provisional organization was now terminated, and we 
were consolidated with General McClellan's new command, the 
Army of the Potomac, as the Third Division of the Fifth Corps, 
commanded by Gen. Fitz John Porter, as follows : 

Commander of Division, Brig.-Gen. A. A. Humphrey. 

First Brigade, Gen. E. B. Tyler. 

Ninety-first Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. E. 
M. Gregory; 126th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Col. 
James G. Elder; 129th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Col. 
J. G. Frick ; 134th Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Lieut.- 
Col. Edw. O'Brian. 

Second Brigade, Col. Peter H. Allabach, commanding. 

123d Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. J. B. Clark; 
131st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Lieut.-Col. W. B. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 31 

Shaut ; 133(1 Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. F. B. 
vSpeaknian ; i5Stli Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Col. E. 
J. Allen. 

Artillery, First New York Light Battery C, Lieut. W. H. 
Phillips ; First United States Batteries, E and G, Capt. A. M. 
Randol. 

On the evening of the 9th of September, at dress parade, 
the first special orders were read from our corps commander. 
We began our service with the veteran soldiers, and all the 
signs betokened abundant work for us ahead. The following 
order indicates our first service, and was read as follows : 

Arlington, Va., Sept. 9, 1862. 

Special Orders No. i : Colonel Allabach, commander of 
brigade, will at once see that his regiments are supplied with 
forty rounds of ammunition in cartridge boxes, and have at 
least three days' provisions, and put in order for active service. 
An additional supply of forty rounds will be kept in wagons. 

The division will be posted so that at anv short notice it 
can occupy its lines of battle, and at the same time be held ready 
to push out on the Columbia turnpike. Colonel Allabach's bri- 
gade will be posted and held ready to push out on the Leesburg 
or Little River turnpike. He will picket on the turnpike and 
railroad, having the main guards at the crossing of Cameron's 
and Holmes' Run. The advance guard and pickets will be 
thrown well forward toward Annandale and Page's tavern, 
where cavalry pickets will be stationed. * * * 

No person will be permitted to pass these lines except by 
authority of the major-general commanding, or superior au- 
thority. All persons coming in will be taken to the nearest com- 
mander, and the names and circumstances of arrest will be re- 
ported to these headquarters. If of importance the person will 
be sent in under guard. 

By command of 
Maf.-Gen. Fitz John Porter. 
Fked'k T. Locke, A. A. G. 



There was little probability of the rebel forces attacking 
the Washington defenses, but the enemy permitted no delay in 
resuming active operations. The Army of the Potomac under 
its old leader must find and meet the old enemy. But Lee chal- 
lenged him by defiantly crossing the Potomac for a Northern 
invasion. H the hope of success was ever bright for the con- 
federate chieftain it was when his army had seemingly met and 



32 HISTORY OF THE 

defeated, first the army under McClellan, on the Peninsula, and 
then the armies defending Washington, and were crossing the 
Potomac northward, singing " Maryland, My Maryland !" 

MARCHING NORTHWARD. 

On the evening of September 12 we received marching or- 
ders, and the next day we joined those long, sinewy lines of 
dust and humanity, which coidd be seen in every direction, a 
great army, marching over hill and valley, all moving towards 
Washington City. Great columns of dust indicated the various 
columns, which could be seen in every direction from every little 
elevation, and was a most impressive sight to all, and especially 
to the new soldiers. The army was marching up both sides of 
the Potomac, north and westward, to intercept the invaders. 
Our column passed by Forts Blenker and Ward, thence by 
Chain Bridge down the Potomac and through Georgetown to 
the city of Washington, and bivouacked in the streets of the city 
that night, in the vicinity of the head of Fourteenth street. 

General Pope took leave of his command and returned to 
a western army. General Banks was placed in command of the 
army defending Washington, and the Third, Fifth and Eleventh 
corps were placed under his command, in all reported to be 
about 75.000 men. McClellan's new army was made up of the 
First, Second, Fourth (in part). Sixth, Ninth and the Twelfth, 
and General Couch's Division of the Fifth Corps. After some 
shifting orders, the whole of the Fifth Corps was added to Mc- 
Clellan's column, an aggregate of about 85,000 men. 

It is puzzling that, even at this day, no accurate numbers 
can be ascertained from the official reports of commanders, 
and that our historians give such conflicting numbers when 
computing those engaged in nearly all our battles. The South- 
ern generals systematically concealed their actual strength. 
Throughout the war they flippantly assumed to believe one 
Southern soldier was equal to two or three Northern men. 
Whatever numbers General Pope may have had under his com- 
mand in the recent struggles, the fact is disclosed that at every 
point of contact Lee had more men in action. The full force 
and efifect of the want of harmony among the Union generals is 
made apparent when we consider the numbers of available men 
now in and about Washington, under Banks and McClellanj 
and compare them with the force which Lee had in defeating 
General Pope. Lee received reinforcements for his Northern 
invasion, yet, at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam 
Lee reported that he had less than 40,000 men engaged, and 
General Taylor, the historian, who was on Lee's staff, in his 




CAPT. DAVID BI,Y, 
Commanding Company B. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 33 

book "Four Years With Lee," makes the numbers 35,255. 
Apropos of this Southern habit of misstating their nvtmbers, a 
recent writer is compelled to protest thus : "A few more years, 
a few more books, and it will appear that Lee and a general 
and a one-armed orderly, and a casual with a shot gun, fought 
all the battles of the rebellion, and killed all the Union soldiers, 
except those who ran away." 

In the Charleston Courier's story of a battle, that paper, in 
its zeal, made this statement concerning their defeat : "They 
fought until they were all cut to pieces, and then retreated only 
because they had fired their last round." No doubt the Courier 
readers wanted that kind of a story, and this was a common esti- 
mate placed upon the valor of Southern troops, and this spirit is 
still persisted in by many Southern writers to this day. 

Concerning the recent battles fought within our hearing, 
and for which we were daily kept in readiness. General Pope 
declared in his official report that not more than one-third of 
General McClellan's army came to his assistance. We know a 
large force was idle all around us, and all the men of the 131st 
were eager to march towards the sound of battle. 

The next day we marched to the navy yard and exchanged 
our Austrian rifles for Harper's Ferry muskets, returning to 
our camp in the evening. We did not then know that our new di- 
vision commander. General Humphrey, had been arrested in the 
city. Strict orders had been issued to prevent army officers from 
loitering at the Capital. Our commander had just been as- 
signed to his new division, which had just been organized, and 
was not provided for fully for the great campaign then just 
entered upon. In the pursuit of this duty he was in the streets 
of the city when arrested, and it caused a delay of a day's march 
at a critical time of a division of troops. He was properly re- 
leased, b ut it was a great indignitv and caused a bitterness be- 
t ween the general and several offi cersjnjhighj^ laces. which was 
^ot forgotten throughout the war. General McClellaij now 
requested that he be given ttie entire Fifth Corps, which was 
granted, and preparation was at once made and all the troops 
were put forward with forced marching orders. The delay in 
Washington gave us an opportunity to get some glimpses of the 
extent and great beauty of the city. Our dusty and sunburned 
soldiers, clad in their army blue, afforded a somewhat marked 
contrast with the airy and daintily-dressed citizens, who in 
large numbers, afoot and with their gay equipages, visited the 
soldiers who were in bivouac, and watched the passing columns 
of the great army now in pursuit of Lee, who was on his way 
North. 



34 HISTORY OF THE 

General Humphrey was a regular officer of great skill and 
ability, and bent himself to his new duties with great energy. 
He had not even the meager means for transportation to which 
the old soldiers of the armies had been reduced. We were im- 
mediately placed under marching orders with as little baggage 
as possible^ most of which was left with details to guard and to 
follow the moving army by train. The company officers of the 
131st packed all their supplies, books, stationery, clothing, red 
tape and sealing wax, into one small trunk to a company, most 
of which were not seen again for weeks. Private Samuel Grou, 
of Company A, was one of those detailed to guard the baggage 
and supplies of the division. He states that when the division 
moved the baggage was taken to the train of cars, and the 
guards were ordered to the soldiers' retreat, where they re- 
mained next day, when they were placed in passenger cars, ac- 
companying the baggage train, and were taken to Frederick 
City. 

Our division was very hastily provided for under the ur- 
gent orders to join the advance. But our line of march was 
resumed on that bright Sunday morning in September, and we 
moved forward with the great Army of the Potomac. Lee had 
now turned northward up the Potomac River, and crossed into 
Maryland below Harper's Ferry. This was urging General 
McClellan to use the greatest dispatch. How much Lee must 
have been misled as to both the morale and numbers of his 
enemy ! But he believed he had both defeated the entire Army 
of the Potomac on the Peninsula, and the armies defending 
Washington, and that he was now invincible. But the seven- 
days' battles before Richmond were not all defeats, and General 
McClellan's retreats were not necessary, so far as fear of Lee 
was concerned, and Pope's defeat was mainly due to the want 
of harmony among the Union generals. 

General Lee's threat to invade the North and transfer the bat- 
tle grounds to Pennsylvania, had the effect of arousing the 
nation, and the alarm brought the Union generals closer to- 
g^ether, and President Lincoln seized with a firmer grasp the 
authority of the commander-in-chief. The emergency troops 
from Pennsylvania were already arriving at the borders of the 
State, and were ready to assist the Army of the Potomac. The 
vast army of new and veteran soldiers which Lee found in his 
front, must have been an unlooked-for revelation of the recuper- 
ative power and abundant resources of the North. But Lee al- 
ways failed when he assumed the offensive. His defeats at South 
Mountain and Antietam dispelled his illusion and renewed and 
strengthened the friends of the LTnion. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 35 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE ANTIETAM CAMPAIGN. 

McCLELLAN'S army assumed its former soldierly ap- 
pearance, its usual discipline was restored, and it was 
reinforced by large numbers of the new soldiers. Gen- 
eral Banks, for the defense of Washington, had as many troops 
as General Lee, and Pennsylvania sent about 40,000 men to the 
border. General Lee, with his rebel army, and General McClel- 
lan, with his new Union army, were now both moving on Fred- 
erick City, Maryland. The 131st Regiment had been detained, 
as General Humphrey had just taken command of the division, 
and no provision for army transportation had been made. It 
was while on this pressing duty he was so unjustly arrested in 
the streets of Washington. Yet the order which was intended 
to prevent officers loitering in the Capital was a good and nec- 
essary one. The men of the 131st will remember the first day's 
march. It was a severe ordeal. The sun was intensely hot, 
as many of the men carried useless burdens in their knap- 
sacks. The roads, so well beaten, were dusty, but we covered 
about fourteen miles, notwithstanding a detour of some miles 
liad been made, through the carelessness of a staff officer, who 
Vv-a^ sent to indicate the line of march, and put us on the wrong 
road. On the march Colonel Allabach rigidly enforced discip- 
hne and the order to prohibit "straggling" and "foraging." 
Some of the boys who sighed for the good things not in their 
haversacks, and which seemed to invite them to green fields and 
pastures new, came to grief — were arrested, and some of them 
severely punished. The colonel was doubtless right, but he 
was considered by many to be j geedlesslv severe, and it left rank- 
ling resentments which were not wholly removed until after the 
battle of Fredericksburg, by which time the necessity and value 
of discipline was more fully understood and appreciated by the 
men. On the evening of the third day's march we reached 
the banks of the beautiful Monocacy Creek, where the smoul- 
dering ruins of the burned railroad bridge marked the tracks 
of the enemy. 

None of the men will ever forget the welcome relief which 
our bivouac on the banks of that stream afforded that night, 
after our severe service ever since we were armed and 
equipped, and under the alarming conditions in Virginia during 
the battles which resulted in General Pope's defeat. After a se- 
vere march it was always an interesting event to come upon the 



36 HISTORY OF THE 

banks of a refreshing stream, and an interesting sight as well, 
and no troops ever more keenly appreciated this advantage 
than the weary columns of the new Pennsylvania troops, as they 
turned into that luxurious Monocacy bath in columns of thou- 
sands, including men, horses and cattle. 



Frederick City, Md., is about fifty miles in a direct line 
north from Washington. When Lee's army arrived there, if its 
general ever believed, as they claimed, that he had defeated all 
the Union army in his front, and could now invade the North 
or capture Washington, he must have experienced cTiagrin and 
disappointment when he learned that Washington was securely 
defended, and his old antagonist, whom he left on the James, 
the old Army of the Potomac, stronger than ever, an array 
cf Pennsylvanians now confronted him. 

The retreat of Pope left the Union troops at Harper's Ferry 
and the vipper Potomac exposed to the advance of Lee's army. 
McClellan moved too slow, and was nine days in marching from 
Washington to Frederick City with his main army. The rebel 
troops from Richmond in the meantime had marched overland 
all the way, and reached Lee. Before reinforcements reached 
them the Union troops under General Miles were defeated. Gen- 
eral Miles was killed and the fort was surrendered, with all the 
garrison and stores. Lee now had a clear field in Virginia and 
direct railroad communication with Richmond through the 
Shenandoah Valley, and the river and mountains were be- 
tween him and Washington, south and east of him. To defend 
Richmond, always upon the inner circle, with such fighting ana 
marching material as he undoubtedly had, was one thing; but 
to attack and carry on an offensive campaign upon Union ter- 
ritory, was quite another. 

McClellan, in "His Own Story," gives as a reason for his 
slow movements against Lee, that the uncertainty of his enemy's 
whereabouts and the necessity of protection to the Capital made 
it necessary. Small circumstances often occur to decide impor- 
tant events, or even the fate of nations, and two seemingly 
trifling incidents now occurred to determine the movements of 
these contending armies. When the rebels were in Frederick 
City some careless rebel general cast away a bit of paper. It 
was the order of General Lee directing his movements and the 
capture of Harper's Ferry. The Union forces occupied the city 
the next day. The bit of paper was picked up by a Union offi- 
cer and was promptly placed in the hands of General McClel- 
lan, who now knew the location of all the several corps of the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 37 

rebel army, but it did not prevent the capture of Harper's Fer- 
ry, nor did it hasten the attack upon Lee before he could re- 
unite his then scattered forces. This fatal delay did much to- 
ward determining the fate of McClellan as commander of the 
Army of the Potomac. The other singular coincident was the 
fact that when AlcClellan finally gave his orders to advance, 
upon the information received through the finding of Lee's or- 
ders, he gave verbal orders to a number of corps commanders 
in the presence of several citizens. One of these immediately 
hastened off to the rebel lines, sought out the rebel leader, and 
gave him the coveted knowledge of the finding of his order and 
the plans of his antagonist. This knowledge of each other's 
plans made it equally important for the most prompt move- 
ments — Lee to hasten the capture of the Ferry and its defense- 
less garrison, and to unite his several corps for defense ; and 
McClellan to hasten to the relief of Miles and save Harper's 
Ferry and strike Lee before he could unite his troops for de- 
fense in the strong positions known to abound along the Po- 
tomac. 

The story of the battles of South Mountain and Antietam 
and the deplorable capture of Harper's Ferry, record the re- 
sults. The final removal of General McClellan and the Emanci- 
pation Proclamation forever abolishing slavery, were largely 
determined by the results of this great, eventful campaign. Lee 
retreated to his old and familiar Virginia defenses, instead of 
transferring the war to Pennsylvania, to continue his now ever 
hopeless task. It is a proud distinction which the members of 
the 131st Regiment may ever cherish as a most enviable dis- 
tinction, that they were identified with the Union army in the 
achivements upon those fields of these great triumphs. 

It will be seen that when the 131st was restfuUy tenting on 
the Monocacy, a portion of the Fifth Corps was in the front 
lines in the mountain passes and on South Mountain during 
that battle. But for our delay at Washington, we doubtless 
would have been there, too. It is not proposed to enter upon a 
detailed account of these battles, but only to outline and to note 
the immediate operations with which we were directly identi- 
fied. General McClellan, in his report, makes the following 
reference to the Third Division of the Fifth Corps, in which 
was the 131st Regiment: 

"Humphrey's division of new troops, in their anxiety to 
participate in the battle which was raging when they received 
the order to march from near Frederick City at about half-past 
3, pressed forward during the entire night and reached the 



38 HISTORY OF THE 

battlefield in the morning, having marched twenty-three miles. 
They were, of course, greatly exhausted and needed rest and 
refreshment." 

General Humphrey's report contains the following : 
"I marched at daylight (from Washington) on Sunday 
morning, the 14th of September, and reached Monocacy Depot 
Tuesday p. m. Here I obtained, as ordered, such supplies of 
rations and forage, if very little of the latter, and upon sending 
to Frederick found orders awaiting me to take a position in 
front of Frederick to protect it, and to watch the approach 
from Harper's Ferry, then in possession of the enemy. On 
Wednesday morning I examined the country in front of Fred- 
erick, selected a position for the division, arranging with the 
military commander of Frederick to station vedettes on certain 
roads in advance ; arranged at the telegraph office to have the 
earliest information from Harper's Ferry, and was returning 
to camp to move my division to the position selected, when I 
received, about 3:30 o'clock p. m., orders from General Mc- 
Clellan to move forward. This I did immediately, and had 
marched five miles, when at sunset I received another order to 
join the army then at Antietam, the next morning, if possible. I 
marched all night, and early next morning was in position at 
Antietam. 

"General McClellan rode through part of my division on 
his way out from his headquarters, and it filed past him in 
moving down to General Morrell's position. Notwithstanding 
the long night march they had made of over twenty-eight 
miles, of a forced march, the men were in good heart, and, re- 
freshed by a short rest and coffee, would have fought well. Had 
they been wanting in spirit a large portion of them might have 
remained behind, for the night was very dark. -When I saw the 
long lines of the regiments as they filed into their position, in 
rear of Morrell, I knew the kind of men I commanded, and 
their conduct on the field since that time has justified my con- 
fidence in them." 

None of the men who participated in that hurried march 
will ever forget it. We were probably three miles from Fred- 
erick City, near Monocacy Station. All felt the strain that was 
upon our hitherto unfortunate Army of the Potomac, and were 
impressed with the danger to the National Capital, and were 
determined to repel the invasion of Union soil and call a halt 
upon Lee and defeat his arm}^ 

The march was most creditable to the new division, and 
its soldierly bearing won the praise and confidence of our com- 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 39 

manders and the respect of the old soldiers of the Army of the 
Potomac. We were not only making a rapid and toilsome 
march, but it was in the rear of an army in battle. We passed 
many wounded soldiers, and were enveloped in all the won- 
drous tales and rumors which prevail just in the rear of great 
battle lines. 

As we passed through the pretty and patriotic little city 
of Frederick we saw many Barbara Frietchies waving the Stars 
and Stripes from windows, but heard none say "shoot, if you 
must, this old gray head," but we were overwhelmed with kind 
attention and every evidence of joy and gratitude by its loyal 
citizens. The}' lined the streets with men, women and children. 
Water, coffee, bread and rusk were plentifully and freely sup- 
plied, and we were cheered and encouraged by good reports 
from the front, and they urged us to make sure the defeat and 
destruction of the invaders, who had so recently held their city. 

\"ery few men fell out of the ranks. It was one of the very 
sad trials to officers and men to witness a faithful soldier, who 
had carried his gun long and submitted to all the privations in- 
cident to the soldier's life, stricken down, or become exhausted 
while on a march in an active campaign, to be left to be cared 
for by no one knew who, or by nobody, or to captivity and the 
dreaded rebel prison, or whatever the cruel environments might 
have in store for him. But military necessity is great, and it 
forbids that the strong men should be diverted from their stern 
duties at the crisis, so that when men fall out at svtch a time 
they must be regarded as lost, or be picked up and cared for by 
only those who are appointed for that duty. So when a com- 
rade is stricken down on a march, a few tender little kindnesses 
are sadly extended and he is left behind. Many a poor fellow 
fills an unknown and unmarked grave who thus fell out to die 
alone, or among strangers, or within the lines of the enemy. 

Our line of march from the Monocacy was first northward 
to the city of Frederick, then westward, crossing the South 
Mountains, thence to Middletown, Boonesboro and Keedysville, 
where we crossed the Antietam, and reached the front on the 
battlefield near Sharpsburg in the morning. We passed near 
McClellan's headquarters and were placed in position in sup- 
port of the Second Corps, on the high ground east and north 
of the town, the rebel lines then extending through Sharpsburg. 
We were several times moved from one point to another, on 
both sides of the Keedysville and Sharpsburg road. 

The mountains which we crossed upon our march, were 
quickly placed between the armies by Lee, when he was so sud- 



40 HISTORY OF THE 

denly confronted by McClellan at Frederick City. The battle 
of South Mountain followed, and was caused by Lee's effort to 
delay or prevent the crossing. He had very strong reasons for 
this. Lee's army was divided ; Jackson was sent back from 
Frederick into Virginia to capture Harper's Ferry and our 
hosts at Martinsburg and vicinity, before the Union army 
would gather in his front. He expected that in those moun- 
tain gaps he could very easily delay the Northern army until 
he could accomplish his orders, after which he would again de- 
feat the Yankee army. But the victory of South Mountain 
placed Lee's army at the mercy of McClellan^, with his large 
and compact army. Each general knew the other's plans, but 
Lee knew McClellan was slow and that Jackson was quick, and 
he hurried that officer, who succeeded in capturing Harper's 
Ferry whilst the L^nion army was comparatively inactive for 
three days in front of Sharpsburg. Then Lee secured Harper's 
Ferry and its garrison of ii,ooo men. General Miles, its com- 
mander, was killed and seventy-three pieces of artillery and all 
the stores, fell into his hands, and Jackson returned to Lee in 
time to save him, just after Burnside had taken Antietam 
Bridge, which pierced the rebel lines, and would have been fatal 
to Lee, who was now largely outnumbered. The victory of 
South Mountain was thus more than offset by the defeat at 
Harper's Ferry. 

Lee had now learned that McClellan was ready to attack 
his army, and he also had the evidence that the armies of Pope 
and of the Potomac had not been annihilated by the campaign 
in Virginia. 

The western side of the Antietam presented an admirable 
defensive position, and their perfect knowledge of the grounds 
gave Lee's army an advantage over McClellan's quite sufficient 
to compensate for superior numbers of the attacking army, so 
that, all in all, the two old antagonists — the disunionists who 
had established a hostile government, and were carrying a hos- 
tile flag, both of which presented the abominable proposition 
for the perpetuation of human slavery, which was to be the chief 
corner-stone of the new Confederacy — were about to meet 
again in mortal combat, with even chances for victory. 

As the 131st was hastening to the front on that night 
march we passed over the battlefield of South Mountain, and 
on through the rear of the army after the great struggles of the 
i6th and 17th. The streets of the villages of Middletown, 
Boonesboro and Keedysville were filled with wounded, dead and 
dying soldiers of both armies — Union and rebel. Nearlv all the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 41 

houses and barns, and every other available place, had been con- 
verted into hospitals, and the roads were full of ambulances 
carrying dead and wounded officers and men. We also passed 
the Harper's Ferry garrison, who had been surrendered after 
the death of General Miles, and who were paroled because Lee 
could not hold them, nor could he spare a force to send them 
South. The dead body of General Mansfield, of the Twelfth 
Corps, was also passed to the rear through our columns. We 
were given a good deal to think about on that long and hur- 
ried march to the front. There were some very tedious delays 
upon the road, occasioned by the obstruction of other march- 
ing troops, when we could neither rest nor advance. Many of 
the men declared they found themselves sleeping, standing in 
their places in the ranks, and would move forward when the 
column moved and stop when the column stopped — but they 
slept right on. 

The Compte de Paris, who was with General McClellan, 
thus refers to the time when the 131st came upon the battle- 
field, in his History of the Civil War : 

"The sun of September 18, 1862, rose to light up one of 
those scenes of suffering and anguish which humbles the pride 
of man, by the exhibition of his weakness and cruelty. Twen- 
ty thousand men, killed or wounded the day before, were lying 
on that narrow battlefield. Their comrades were exhausted by 
the struggle, by fatigue and by want of both sleep and food. 
McClellan had, indeed, thought of resuming the offensive, in 
order to complete the victory so dearly bought on the day be- 
fore. Many generals, Franklin among the rest, urged this. 
Others, like Sumner, tried to dissuade him. An attack afford- 
ed great chances of success. But Pennsylvania protected, 
Washington free from danger, and the invasion definitely re- 
pulsed, the Union general was not willing to run the risk. The 
two divisions of the Fifth Corps — Couch's and Humphrey's — 
joined the army on the field in the course of the morning. As 
soon as they made their appearance, McClellan, feeling hence- 
forth certain of success, gave orders for attacking the Con- 
federates on the morning of the 19th. Lee had also received re- 
inforcements from Harper's Ferry; but these fresh troops 
did not compensate him for his losses. The campaign was 
ended, and could not be renewed. An attack might degener- 
ate into disaster. During the night the whole of Lee's army 
crossed silently into Virginia." 

As we passed nearby General McClellan's headquarters 
many of the men saw and recognized the gallant leader of the 



42 HISTORY OF THE 

Union side, with his large retinue of staff and orderHes on the 
east side of the Antietam. We crossed that stream by the 
Keedysville Bridge, No. 2, on the direct road to Sharpsburg. 
From the McClellan headquarters, a large brick house, we 
could see almost over the whole battlefield. Lee's headquar- 
ters were on the hill just east and outside of the village of 
Sharpsburg. The place is now the site of the Antietam monu- 
ment, in the National Cemetery there. 

When we took position in the line of battle, in pursuance 
of General McClellan's orders to renew the battle, we were 
placed in line held by Morrell's division, which was sent over 
to the aid of Burnside on our left. In the shifting scenes which 
followed preparatory to the attack, we were several times 
moved along the front line, and were finally placed not far from 
the Hagerstown pike, with our lines extending south of Sharps- 
burg, where the Fifth Corps was to renew the battle at dav- 
light. 

That was a night long to be remembered by the men of 
the 131st. We knew we were to open the battle at daylight. 
The long march had been exhausting and the heat and anxiety 
of the day severe, but the night was cool and our rest refresh- 
ing. We slept in line of battle on our arms, and the sonorous 
music of the night indicated that we had many sound sleepers I 
They did not all sleep, nor did many of them sleep all the night, 
for the chances of the morrow were keenly counted, and the 
sights and sounds of the battlefield contemplated. 

" We silently gazed on the face of the dead, 
And we bitterly thought of the morrow." 

Bordan's sharpshooters were on the picket lines in front, 
and they mingled with our men. We found among them a 
private, a Lewisburg boy, whom many members of Company 
A knew. It was young Samuel Black, who they said had run 
away from home to enlist in the army. He got quite an ovation 
there among the boys in the Union count}' company, and he 
told them he felt sure we would smash Lee's army into smith- 
ereens in the morning, when nearly all Lewisburg would be 
hurled down upon them, for he thought nearly all must be in 
Company A. The young sharpshooter told us that some of 
the rebel pickets had been removed early in the night, and it 
was rumored all along the line that Lee was retreating down 
the Potomac, not far away. 

The rumors from the picket lines now multiplied so rap- 
idly as to leave little doubt that the rebel line immediately 
i*" our front had either been entirely withdrawn, or else had so 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 4S 

changed direction of the battle line as to relieve us of the 
necessity of the attack, for which we all supposed we had been 
placed in position soon after dark. As the enemy receded our 
pickets and sharpshooters closely pressed upon their lines, and 
thus disclosed the purpose of the movement and found it to be 
a retreat of Lee's army. The bulk of the army had already 
crossed the Potomac, mainly at the Shephardstown Ford. 

That night on the battlefield will not be forgotton by any 
of the men of the 131st. They had heard of the praise be- 
stowed upon them by General McClellan, as well as our di- 
vision commander, and of the determination to renew the 
battle. It was an honorable distinction, but an attack at close 
range upon the soldiers who had fought the battles of the past 
two days had its significance, which was probably fairly ap- 
preciated by many of the officers and men of Humphrey's Di- 
vision. But the sleepless ones were now not considerate for the 
repose of that long line of new soldiers, sleeping on their arms, 
to be called into battle at the early dawn, for the news of re- 
treat was now proclaimed, and it was not long before the con- 
tagion of the enthusiasm of victory infected the whole line, first 
manifested by the outburst of a single cheer, soon to be taken 
up by the listening comrades, then gradually bursting into a 
great shout all along the line. Thus it spread from one line to 
another, from the sleeping lines in front to the great sleeping 
army which had fought at South A'lountain and Antietam, 
each line repeating the gladsome manifestations until the 
whole Union army knew that their terrible struggle with the 
haughty invaders had been a substantial triumph, of which the 
retreat of the enemy was the best possible evidence as well as 
a confession. 

The Fifth Corps was now forwarded in pursuit, and the 
131st moved first southward until we reached the Keedysville 
road, then we passed through the town of Sharpsburg, and 
took position on the right of the road leading to Shephards- 
town Ford, where we went into bivouac. The enemy was 
strongly posted on the opposite side, and General Porter deter- 
mined to capture some of them. Generals Griffin and Hum- 
phrey, with a small detachment, crossed the river and suc- 
ceeded in capturing five cannon, among them one of Battery D, 
of the Fifth United States Artillery, which had been lost at 
the first battle of Bull Run ; but on account of some oversight 
this detachment was not supported and was withdrawn. The 
next morning a reconnaissance in force was sent over under 
Generals Morrcll, and Sykes of the Regulars.of the Fifth Corps. 
This also proved unsuccessful, because it was not supported 



44 HISTORY OF THE 

by the cavalry as had been ordered. The rebels were in force 
near the river, and as our troops were re-crossing they were at- 
tacked in midstream by infantry and artillery, with fearful 
slaughter. The new Corn Exchange Regiment, of Philadel- 
phia, the 1 1 8th, lost sixty-four men killed and 284 wounded. 
Lee then continued his retreat leisurely to the vicinity of Win- 
chester, in West Virginia. 

The Army of the Potomac now went into camp, where it 
remained for six weeks, until ordered forward by President 
Lincoln. 

The 131st was placed on picket duty on the banks of the 
Potomac, between the canal and river, where we spent some 
time on duty. The enemy was seen on the opposite side occa- 
sionally, and our men took long range shots at anybody or any- 
thing in sight. Private Samuel Grove states that he and the 
others who were detailed in Washington City to attend the bag- 
gage of the division, having no teams for transportation, came 
up to the regiments about a mile or more beyond Sharpsburg. 
They had been sent by rail from Washington to Frederick 
City. From thence they were ordered to their regiments, 
which they vainly endeavored to find, but they followed the 
army and only overtook us after a most "lost dog" sort of a life 
in the rear of the victorious Union army which had fought the 
battles of South Mountain and Antietam. Some of the poor 
fellows who fell out of the ranks on our forced night march 
from Frederick City, did not reach the regiment for several 
weeks, and a few were permanently disabled. 

THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 

The Battle of Antietam was a great battle, and ranks 
among the most severely contested, by portions' of the forces, 
though no very large proportion of the troops of the Uriion 
army were engaged at any one time. It was Lee's first great bat- 
tle upon Union soil. It proved little less disastrous to him than 
his second and last one at Gettysburg. It ended the invasion; 
it saved the Capital ; it afforded the proof that the Army of the 
Potomac could not be defeated, but that it could attack Lee's 
army in a strong position and compel him to retreat. The bat- 
tle was the answer to Lee's assumption of superiority over the 
Army of the Potomac, his power to besiege Washington, and 
add Maryland to the Confederacy, and to transfer the war to 
Pennsylvania. These results, it was hoped, would secure rec- 
ognition by France and England, and ultimate triumph of the 
Confederacy. The Union victory dispelled these and many 
other illusions at home and abroad. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 45 

McCleilan's "Own Story" thus summarizes the results of 
the Battle of Antietam : 

"Nearly 200,000 men and 500 pieces of artillery were for 
fourteen hours engaged in this memorable battle. Our soldiers 
slept that night conquerors on a field won by their valor and 
covered with the dead and wounded of the enemy. Thirteen 
guns, thirty-nine colors, 15,000 stands of arms and more than 
6,000 prisoners were the trophies. Not a single gun or color 
was lost by our army." 

The Union losses, as reported in General McCleilan's re- 
port, were on the i6th and 17th, 2,010 killed; 9,416 wounded, 
and 1,043 missing; a total of 12,469. Most of our losses were 
sustained by a few divisions of the army, and two corps were 
scarcely used at all. Sedgwick's Division of the Second Corps 
alone lost 2,225, of whom 355 were killed. The rebel loss has 
never been known with accuracy. General McClellan reported 
that 2,700 of their dead were counted and buried by his men, 
and that many had been previously buried by their rebel com- 
rades. Their total loss must have been at least equal in num- 
ber to ovirs, and a very much greater percentage. It must be 
remembered that, though our army exceeded theirs in numbers, 
we were obliged to attack them in a strong position and we 
compelled them to retreat, and inflicted a greater proportionate 
loss upon them ; a result which in many respects made this 
rank as one of the greatest battles of the war for the Union. 

A little study of the battle will clearly disclose some of the 
mistakes which were made. On the part of Lee it was perhaps 
the poverty of his government as well as the weakness of his 
numbers that made it necessary for him to divide his army for 
the capture of Harper's Ferry, in the presence of McCleilan's 
army. If McClellan had pressed his success on South Moun- 
tain, Lee's army would have been annihilated. It was a fatal 
delay which prevented an attack on the i6th by the whole Army 
of the Potomac instead of the attack of Hooker's First Corps 
alone. Hooker's movement gave Lee notice of where and how 
McCleilan's attack was to be made, and that it would, in all 
probability, be made piecemeal, as it was. The attacks on the 
17th were made in succession — first by Hooker,, in which at- 
tack the Pennsylvania Reserves won new laurels, and gave 
Stonewall Jackson the most severe face to face attack he ever 
experienced. In the reports of the several commanders it can- 
not be definitely ascertained just how many men were en- 
gaged in this most terrific struggle by Hooker. Stonewall Jack- 
son's report states that "fresh troops, from time to time, re- 



46 HISTORY OF THE 

lieved the enemy's ranks/' This means that, as was known by 
our troops, Hooker's forces were brought into action succes- 
sively, and not in full force. General Patrick, commanding a 
brigade, says that "the Twelfth Corps, General Mansfield, came 
into action in succession, and at considerable intervals." Gen- 
eral Palfrey, in his "Antietam and Fredericksburg," says : 
"There are good grounds for believing that the Twelfth Corps 
received no assistance, or next to none, from the First CorpS; 
.Sumner's Second Corps did not go into action in a body. The 
marching and fighting of the three divisions of the Second 
Corps were so distinct that they must be described separately." 
Nearly all the troops of three corps, the First, Second and 
Twelfth, were engaged at some point of contact, but the strik- 
ing fact remains that the Union troops at no time outnumbered 
the rebels, but, on the other hand, were several times outnum- 
bered in action. Burnside's attack on our left was not made 
tmtil long after the First, Second and Twelfth Corps had suc- 
cessively gone into action, and Franklin's Sixth Corps and Por- 
ter's Fifth Corps were not only not used as a whole, but as Gen- 
eral Palfrey states, "they were broken up into divisions, if it 
can be asserted, indeed, that any whole division were used as a 
unit, or anything like it." It would be hard for the student who 
is carefully scrutinizing the details of this battle, to find the 
moment of time, or the place of actual contact when even 
10,000 Union soldiers were engaged at one time. The claim 
of the friends of Lee that he was overwhelmed with numbers, 
is not warranted, but he brought into action his entire army, 
and at all points of contact he had equal or superior numbers. 
But the 10,000 engaged, and successively, along the historic 
turnpike, about the Dunkard Church, the cornfield, the east and 
west woods, the sunken road, it is true that it was for both sides 
one of he most stubbornly contested battles of the war. 

The battle was opened by Hooker's First Corps, which 
made the attack on our right. The next stage was the advance 
of the Twelfth Corps under General Mansfield, in support of 
Hooker. Then Sumner's Second Corps was advanced, and the 
fourth stage was the slight use of our center, mainly of Frank- 
lin's Corps, Porter's strong corps in reserve ; and lastly the at- 
tack of the Ninth Corps, by Burnside, on our left. After the 
successive assaults on the enemy on the morning of the 17th, 
by the three Union corps under Hooker, Mansfield and Sumner, 
who met Lee in his stronghold, held the line in battle, for more 
than six hours, steadily gaining ground and inflicting terrible 
losses upon him, with two corps practically fresh, McClellan 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 47 

had it in his power to capture or destroy his army. Lee had 
hrought into action all the men of all his corps. McClellan had 
probably 30,000 men — of the Fifth and Sixth Corps — who had 
not fired a gun. Had half this force been pushed forward after 
our victory at the sunken road, "when Jackson at last despaired," 
Lee must have been driven from the field. Referring to this 
critical period the rebel general, D. H. Hill, in his report of the 
battle says : "There were no troops left to hold the center ex- 
cept a few hundred, rallied from various brigades, and the 
Yankees had got within a few hundred yards of the hill which 
commanded Sharpsburg, and the Confederate rear. Affairs 
looked critical." McClellan had once determined to make this 
attack, but Sumner so earnestly opposed it, that he yielded to 
his opinion. Franklin had already commenced a movement, 
but McClellan now forbade the resumption of the battle. Gen- 
eral Palfrey, in his "Antietam and Fredericksburg," referring 
to this critical point, says : "It is probable, almost to a point of 
certainty, that if a good part of the Second Corps, part of the 
Fifth Corps, and all of the Sixth Corps, animated by the per- 
sonal presence of McClellan, had attacked vigorously in the 
center — in front of Sharpsburg — and Burnside on the left, 
leaving part of the Fifth Corps and Pleasanton's command to 
hold our center and cover our trains, the result would have been 
the practical annihilation of Lee's army. Both McClellan and 
Sumner exhibited their deficiency in those qualities which ap- 
pear to have been Grant's most valuable endowments — abso- 
lutely clear conception of the end to be attained." 

The same author further comments : "Only one word 
more remains to be said about McClellan, and that is that at the 
instant he decided not to resume offensive operations on the 
right center and the right, he should have used every man and 
every gun he could possibly spare from Porter and Franklin to 
co-operate with General Burnside in the attack of the Ninth Corps 
by moving out to the south of the Keedyville road, where Pleas- 
anton's horse artillery and Sykes' regulars had made an open- 
ing for an energetic movement to the left front of the Federal 
center. But as the sun sank to rest the last sounds of the bat- 
tle along the Antietam died away. The cannon could grow 
cold at last, and our wearied men and horses could enjoy rest 
and food ; but there were thousands already sleeping the sleep 
that knows no waking, and many times as many thousands wbo 
were suffering all the agonies that attend on wounds; The corn 
and the trees, so fresh and green in the morning, were red- 
dened with blood and torn by bullet and shell, and the verv 



48 HISTORY OF THE 

earth was furrowed by the incessant impact of lead and iron. 
The blessed night came, and brought with it sleep and forget- 
fulness and refreshment to many ; but the murmur of the night 
wind, breathing over fields of wheat, corn and clover, was min- 
gled with the groans of the countless sufferers of both armies. 
Who can tell, or even imagine, the horrors of such a night, while 
the unconscious stars shone above, and the unconscious river 
went rippling by." 

The homes of the men of the 131st were numerously rep- 
resented in other regiments, on other portions of this battle- 
field ; and it may not be amiss, in a reminiscent way, to note 
some of the distinguished services which they rendered. Com- 
pany D, Fifth Reserves, Capt. Monroe Chamlain, and Capt. 
Charles D. Roush's Company B, of the Sixth Reserves, were 
with Hooker's Corps and shared the honor of opening the bat- 
tle and participated in the terrific charges and counter-charges 
on the evening of the i6tli. George W. Schoch, editor of the 
Mifflinburg Telegraph, and William Beckley, William Searls, 
Samuel A. Reed, George C. Kelley, John V. Hafer and George 
Slifer, were members of Company D. W^hilst these old com- 
panions were making history and winning imperishable honors 
on the right of the line, the gallant Fifty-first Pennsylvania, 
with its three Union county companies, were winning equal 
laurels and distinction on the extreme left of the line, when, 
with their namesake, the Fifty-first New York, they stormed 
the stone bridge, and opened the way to Burnside for his attack 
on the flank of the enemy. George W. Foote, editor of the 
Mifflinburg Times, was a member of Company E, and was 
wounded. Also Comrades Martin G. Reed,. Cyrus A. Eaton, 
Isaiah Henry and John V. Rahl. Colonel Brooke's Brigade, 
with the colonel's splendid old fighting regiment, the Fifty- 
third, gained distinction in the capture of the "bloody angle," 
near the Piper house. With Company A, of the I32d Regiment, 
was the youthful John M.Hassenplug, brother of the captain of 
Company E, Fifty-first, who there paid the last and full meas- 
ure of devotion to country, when his young life went out in the 
m.ost terrific struggle of the great battle. The I32d belonged to 
Kimball's Brigade, French's Division of the Second Corps. 
They won distinction for having met the most terrific onset of 
the enemy in the celebrated cornfield, where with the Eighth 
Ohio and Fourteenth Indiana, they lost nearly fifty per cent, of 
their numbers, and later, with the Seventh Virginia (Union 
regiment) they, at a critical moment, dislodged the rebels from 
the cornfield, and thereby restored the Union line. In Battery 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 49 

I, of the Fifth United States Artillery, Oscar G. Sands gallant- 
ly maintained our good military name among Sykes' Regulars. 
These incidents, it will be noticed, very closely identified nearly 
all the Union county soldiers, such as were represented by com- 
panies, or in considerable numbers, who were then in the ser- 
vice, with the leading events of the battle, viz : the opening, 
that carnival of death in the cornfield, the capture of the 
Burnner bridge, and for the 131st a front place in the attacking 
column, which was secured as a result of that night forced 
march, and which had emboldened General McClellan to order 
a renewal of the battle, but it was fatally delayed and Lee re- 
treated. 

In the seven days' battles before Richmond the Army of 
the Potomac lost in killed alone 1,582 men. The Union losses 
at Antietam, in killed alone was 2,010. 

It should also be noted, that incidental to this battle, came 
the eventful Emancipation Proclamation, which finally abol- 
ished human slavery forever in the United States, and blotted 
out that discordant element and disgraceful feature in our 
fundamental law, and cleared the way for our higher destiny, 
and that the American Union might be in fact, as well as in 
name, "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Presi- 
dent Lincoln had been beseiged upon all sides by the conflicting 
interests of political parties on the subject of slavery, and its 
relation to the war for the Union against the new Confederacy, 
which was formed to perpetuate slavery. After our repeateTl 
defeats it was declared he had made a solemn vow that if Lee 
should now be defeated and driven back from Washington and 
Maryland, he would crown that result by issuing a proclamation 
forever abolishing slavery, and this he did immediately follow- 
ing our great triumph at Antietam. 

President Lincoln, on August 22, 1862, when Lee was 
marching northward, gave public utterance to his views in the 
following logical and significant summary : 

"If there be those who would not save the Union unless 
they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with 
them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless 
they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with 
them. My paramount object is to save the Union, and not 
either to destroy or to save slavery. If I could save the Union 
without freeing any slaves, I would do so. If I could save it 
by freeing all the slaves, I would do it. And if I could save it 
by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do that. 
What I do about slavery of the colored race, I do because it 



50 HISTORY OF THE 

helps to save the Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because 
I do not beHeve it would help to save the Union. I shall do 
less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, 
and I shall do more whenever I believe doing more will help 
the cause." 

The elimination of slavery from its apparent security in 
the folds of the Constitution, was a triumph for the Union far 
greater than any other event of the war. 

We now seemed to settle down into camp, not very far 
from Sharpsburg, where we were destined to remain in com- 
parative idleness for six weeks. 

TENTING ON THE POTOMAC. 

It is much to be regretted that we have not been able to 
collect the many details which ought to be recorded concern- 
ing our stay after the battle of Antietam, on the northern banks 
of the Potomac. McClellan overestimated the forces in the 
ranks of the enemy and did not deem it safe for his superior 
army to follow, as Grant subsequently did, after the battle of 
the Wilderness, and pound and pound his enemy until he had 
him cooped up in Richmond and Petersburg, for final destruc- 
tion. The President vainly urged action. It was claimed that 
the Army of the Potomac needed supplies, and was not ready 
for a movement. 

The 131st quickly learned how to make themselves com- 
fortable, and gave themselves to this duty, and were soon quite 
as well housed as their old comrades. They will recall how 
every house and barn, and almost every place of shelter 
in the vicinity of the battlefield, was filled with wounded Union 
and rebel soldiers, who mingled quite freely, and all seemed 
equally cared for by the skillful and humane hospital forces, 
supplemented by bountiful and personal service from the kind 
and sympathizing people of the North. 

In our communication with the enemy we were impressed 
with the general lack of a conception of the relative strength and 
resources of the contending sections. There were, indeed, some 
who seemed hopeless and dispirited, but nearly all ex- 
pressed themselves devoted to the secession cause, and were 
sure to be victors in the end. They could not even contem- 
plate failure, yet the battle of Antietam was a great disap- 
pointment. It puzzled them, and they could not understand 
their defeat, which was not deemed possible. They were 
eager in their inquiries as to the condition of the people of tlie 
North, and were incredulous when reminded of the yet un- 



i3nt PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 61 

used, or reserve power, as indicated by the presence of the 
Pennsylvania mihtia on the border, the vniinterrupted business, 
our great resources and numbers, the faiku^e of the Maryland 
people to rally to Lee's standard — all seemed impossible to 
them in their overzealous confidence in Lee and the Confed- 
eracy, and the abiding hope — that with their friends in the 
North, together with the forthcoming aid from England and 
France, they would yet, in some way, secure their final success. 
The poor fellows were ill-clad, but otherwise dififered little in 
appearance to the old soldiers of the Lhiion army after their 
long campaigns up from the Peninsula. In their bitterness 
against the North they represented the usual partisan spirit of 
the pro-slavery element, who were so intolerant and domi- 
neering. There were some, however, who confessed the 
hopelessness of their cause, and the intolerance and oppres- 
sion of their leaders, who forced many of them into the 
army who were not secessionists. But the Confederate gov- 
ernment was relentless, and admitted no division of sentiment, 
as was practiced in the North. But all the prisoners were free 
to confess their more than generous treatment by their captors, 
and by the good citizens of Maryland, in this vicinity. 

The comrades of the 131st will remember with what 
mingled feelings we entered into our camp life with the veter- 
ans of many campaigns. The Army of the Potomac was back 
again on the banks of the Potomac, and was making itself as 
comfortable as possible in the great long lines of camps, ex- 
tending above and below Harper's Ferry, from Williamsport 
to Sand Hook. The 131st occupied an exposed eminence, re- 
cently a rebel camp, which fact did not impress the men favor- 
ably, and they insisted on denominating it "Louse Hill," which 
was a suggestive, if not a pleasant sounding title. Official pa- 
pers designated it "Camp near Sharpsburg." There was now 
considerable sickness — the men had not yet learned to take care 
of themselves, and the little regimental cemeteries soon 
claimed a number of the gallant boys who succumbed to the ex- 
posures and severity of the service. In these sad instances the 
excitement of war loses its grandeur and show, and the pic- 
ture is well calculated to awaken reflections upon its horrors 
and its cruelties. The hospitals and the sick in quarters kept 
up alarmingly long lists of the men, and I keenly regret that I 
cannot give a list of those who died here, and were buried in the 
camp. The burial of a soldier, the slow and steady tramp of 
the comrades, and the martial music became a common occur- 
rence, and occasioned little remark, however much may have 
been in the mind of the observer. 



52 HISTORY OF THE 

Many friends from the North now visited the army, and 
the various rehef societies, the sanitary commission, and many 
other patriotic associations, as well as individuals, forwarded 
provision trains of good things for the comfort of the men who 
were fighting our battles for the preservation of the Union. 

One the ist day of October President Lincoln visited the 
army, remaining several days, and reviewed the troops. Our 
place on this memorable occasion is indicated in the following 
orders by our corps commander : 

Headquarters Fifth Army Corps^ 
Camp Near Sharpsburg, Md., Oct. 2. 1862. 

Circular. — The command will be reviewed at 10 o'clock a. 
m., to-morrow, by the President. 

Divisions will be formed in line by brigades, brigades in 
columns of regiments, thirty paces apart, deployed ranks, open 
for review. 

Sykes' Division will form on the right, Morrell's in the 
center, and Humphrey's on the left. 

The commands will be in line at 9 o'clock. Division and 
brigade commanders are desired to meet the President at 
corps headquarters at 9 :30. 

Brigadier-General Sykes will designate a battery to fire 
the salute to the President. 

Division commanders are desired to particularly examine 
the grounds in their vicinity with reference to attaining a suit- 
able location for review. 

By command of 

Maj.-Gen. F. J. Porter. 
(Signed) Fred. T. Locke^ A. A. G. 

These reviews were generally found to be a severe ordeal 
for the soldiers, especially if officers were not considerate for 
the comfort of their men. With the utmost care it was neces- 
sary for many troops to make long marches, requiring early 
starting; then there were tedious waits caused by obstructions 
of marching bodies ; then, when in place, the long waiting in 
columns for the reviewing officers ; then the review, sometirnes 
requiring long and rapid marching in step, and then the hur- 
ried march back to camp — sometimes many miles — where 
many of the men would not arrive until after dark, having had 
no opportunity for a good rest or a full meal all day. But 
such a massing of a large army is a most inspiring event, and 
has many compensations for its severity. To one looking on it 
is hard to determine whether the gathering, the return, or the 



ijist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 53 

review itself, is the most interesting to behold. Usually the 
troops appear in their best, and their long lines, over hill and 
dale, now hid and again appearing, as far as the eye can reach, 
is a sight most rare and imposing. Then the passing before 
the reviewing officer, in columns of companies, or sometimes 
by several companies, column after column, until all have 
passed a given point in front of the honored individual, and in 
the presence of the great leaders of these fighting men, 
who have, and are expected, to execute their orders. But, of 
course, it is all a part of the greater system of necessary discip- 
line, which requires that the men be kept in best possible physi- 
cal condition, and at all times, either by the march, or when in 
camp, by the unremitting drills, dress parades, inspections, 
musters and reviews, and all the greater and less requirements 
which constitute the life of the soldier in field service. 

Notwithstanding conflicting reports of the condition of 
the army, the President was very favorably impressed with the 
spirit and condition of the men and officers. General McClel- 
lan had reported that the army was not in condition to under- 
take a continuance of the campaign, and that he now wanted 
to reorganize thoroughly and defend the line of the Potomac 
against Lee, who he supposed had superior numbers against 
him. Clothing and supplies were furnished without stint, and 
after a short rest it was hard to conceive why the army should 
be in less favorable condition for a movement than Lee's army 
on the other side of the river, which was then showing signs of 
great activity, although so severely handled in the recent bat- 
tles. The Union army had been gathered from North Carolina, 
under General Burnside, from in front of Richmond, McClel- 
lan's men, and Pope's troops on the Rapidan, all now of the 
Army of the Potomac. They had defeated Lee, and the minor 
officers in command now determined that the men should en- 
joy the rest as we camped on the Potomac. We were exempt 
from the usual severe discipline of drill and fatigue duty, and 
the new troops, especially, had much to interest them in the 
new associations which surrounded them. Many of them had 
just fought equally well with the best soldiers of the old Army 
of the Peninsula. All had given the best evidence of their effec- 
tiveness, and they were now fully incorporated with the grand 
old Army of the Potomac — a distinction which is a valuable 
heirloom to any member of the 131st. Visiting and good living 
were general. The social and material interests were all that 
seemed possible under the circumstances. The regimental and 
line officers became better acquainted, and they applied them- 



64 HISTORY OF THE 

selves most industriously to their duties. Colonel Allabach 
was an old Mexican soldier, and his large experience was in- 
valuable. The whole official family was fairly representative 
of the skill and efficiency which characterized the American sol- 
dier. The men were hardy and generally intelligent and rep- 
resentative Central Pennsylvania men. They were fully rep- 
resented in all the various duties and details which were made 
for the camp service, and in the way of camp duties they were 
perhaps more ardent than the old soldiers. The new camps 
were kept scrupulously clean, and many of the tents and quar- 
ters were tastefully decorated with very creditable displays of 
evergreens, and other tasty embellishments. 

General Briggs, our brigade commander, returned at this 
time and resumed command of the brigade, as will be seen from 
the official notice issued : 

Headquarters Second Brigade,, 
Third Division, Fifth Corps. 
Camp near Sharpsburg, Oct. lo, 1862. 
General Order No. i : In compliance with special orders, 
the undersigned assumes command of the brigade heretofore 
commanded by Col. P. H. Allabach. 

All existing orders will remain in force until otherwise 
ordered. 

The personal staff of the general commanding is an- 
nounced as follows: Capt. Bryon Porter, assitant adjutant- 
general ; Second Lieutenant E. B. Whittlesey, Tenth Massa- 
chusetts, A. D. C. ; Capt. Archibald Hopkins, Thirty-seventh 
Massachusetts, A. D. C. 

Capt. John W. Howland, adjutant quartermaster, having 
by the order of his appointment from the 'War Department, 
been directed to report to general commanding this brigade for 
duty, will enter upon his duty in that department in this bri- 
gade. Henry S. Briggs, 

Brigadier-General, Commanding. 

It was at this camp that one of Company A's most effi- 
cient sergeants was detailed as a clerk at division headquar- 
ters, as will be seen from the following official order : 

Headquarters Humphrey's Division, Fifth Corps. 

Oct. 8, 1862. 

Special Order No. 7 : Sergt. Isaac Treat, Company A, 
131st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, is hereby detailed as 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 55 

clerk at these headquarters, and will report in person at the 
office of assistant adjutant-general, as soon as possible. 
By command of 

Brig.-Gen. a. a. Humphrey, 
Carson ^IcClellan, A. A. G. Commander Division. 

"Official." S. H. Pollock, A. A. G. 

The sergeant was a good soldier and a good penman. He 
remained in this detailed service until the end of our term of 
enlistment, returning to the company only to take his musket 
whenever we were called into battle. At Fredericksburg he 
was wounded in the head, slightly, a ball passing through his 
hat and cutting "a shallow furrow" from his forehead to the 
back of his head— the boys said it could not get in — but it was a 
very close call. He was, like many of the detailed clerks of the 
regiment, orderly, industrious and methodical in his habits, and 
he received the most flattering commendation from General 
Humphrey for his satisfactory service. His comrades will bear 
witness that he also shot well. 



On the night of September 23, 1862, whilst on duty as an 
officer of the guard, in making the "grand round" at midnight, 
I found a sentinel asleep at his post, an event I very much 
regretted. I halted the command and one of the corporals took 
his musket from him and placed his foot upon his person be- 
fore the sentinel awoke. The soldier sprung up, and of course, 
was considerably confused, as he recognized that he was con- 
fronting the "grand rounds." In order to impress him, and 
for possible future use, I noted his name, company and regi- 
ment, as he gave them, and then called the sentinels on either 
side of him to witness, and also placed their names and their 
command upon my note book. The sleeping sentinel, now wide 
awake, was sent to the guard house, and another placed at his 
post. I found the soldier to be a mere boy. He had been dis- 
turbed the night previous to his being detailed, and got no 
sleep. He had been faithfully walking his beat for fear of sleep, 
but when quite exhausted he said he thought he would lie down 
only for a moment to rest — but he must have fallen asleep at 
once. After getting these details, I concluded to consider his 
case further before preferring charges, which were so serious, 
against him. I directed the officer who succeeded me to retain 
this soldier in the guard-house until next day, and then return 
him to his company. I had so thoroughly impressed the lad 
with the danger of his offense, both to himself and to his com- 



56 HISTORY OF THE 

rades. that I thought he would need no further punishment. 
Unfortunately the succeeding officer of the guard forgot his 
prisoner and my directions, and the poor fellow remained in 
the guard-house for several days, when an irate officer of the 
155th Pennsylvania, called upon me to account for a man of his 
company, who was last under my command, and who had not 
been heard of since. It cooled his ardor when I related the 
story of his lost man. It seems he had been to division head- 
quarters and made complaint that his man had not been re- 
turned. When General Humphrey, a regular officer and a strict 
disciplinarian, heard of the details, and that a sentinel had been 
found sleeping at his post in his division, he was greatly m- 
censed and declared he would have an example made of this of- 
fender. It was not long coming, for the next day I received a 
note requesting my presence at division headquarters. It 
seemed a clear case as I related the circumstances to the general, 
as I had a record of the time and place and names of witnesses 
and the offender, and their companies and regiments. I was 
furnished the necessary blanks and was directed to prefer 
charges, make specifications, and was informed that he would 
convene a court martial and would give warning to his division 
by a terrible example. 

To the soldierly methods of this excellent regular officer 
this offense appeared in its true significance. To the less ex- 
acting and more humane witnesses, extenuating circumstances 
suggested a less drastic remedy than an execution. But a court 
martial was at once convened, with Col. E. M. Gregory, of the 
Ninety-first Pennsylvania, as president. The witnesses all tes- 
tified to the facts as stated, and agreed substantially, and the 
conviction of the boy soldier seemed to be quite beyond doubt. 
Before the last witness was dismissed an officer approached me 
and eagerly inquired about the young soldier, and wished to 
know who he was. *'Why," he said "that boy may be shot to- 
morrow. Has he no friends?" I replied I could tell little 
about the man, and related my connection with the case. When 
I stated that I did not know the boy ; that he and the witnesses 
were among a large detail from various regiments, and that it 
occurred at midnight, his legal training, for the officer was a 
distinguished lawyer, quickly caught hold of the question of 
identity, and when he learned that I possibly could not legally 
identify the man, upon a cross-examination, he secured my re- 
call to the court. I had not previously considered this point of 
the case, and in my chief examination gave his name as I had 
entered it upon my memorandum, but when directly pressed to 
say that this boy was the one named, I could not do otherwise 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 57 

than state that I did not know the boy, and gave his name and 
his identity only from the statement of the offender when I 
found him, as I had noted it, and had not known him, and had 
not seen him since. I could not, therefore, positively, from my 
own knowledge, testify as to his identity. The other witnesses 
were recalled, and they were equally uncertain. The result was 
that the verdict of the court martial was "not guilty." 

General Humphrey was greatly displeased with this result, 
and roundly berated all concerned, in language more forcible 
than polite, as he was wont to do on occasions, and thereby 
gave rise to resentments which played a very important part 
in the history of the division. General Humphrey was satisfied 
of the guilt of the soldier, and he immediately re-convened the 
court and directed them to revise the proceedings. The re- 
sult, together with the name of the soldier, and the charges and 
specifications are taken from the orders of General Humphrey, 
in the following extract : 

"Private Robert Stevens, Company I, 155th Pennsylvania 
Regiment, on the following charges and specifications : 

''Charges. — Sleeping on post. 

"Specification i. — In this, that Robert Stevens, private of 
Company I, 155th Pennsylvania Regiment, did lie down and 
sleep on his post ; the same occurring while a sentinel on duty 
on the 23d day of September, 1862, between the hours of ii 
and 12 o'clock, at Camp near Sharpsburg, and on post No. 18. 

''Specification 2. — In this, the said Robert Stevens, did, 
while asleep, suffer his gun to be taken from him, thereby en- 
dangering his own safety and the safety of the camp. 

"To which charges and specifications, severally, the ac- 
cused plead 'not guilty.' 

"The court re-convened on the loth instant in obedience to 
orders from these headquarters, to revise their proceedings, 
and adhere to the finding. 

"In this case the proceedings of the court are disap- 
proved. The acquittal appears to be based on the imperfect 
identification of the accused by Lieutenant Orwig. But Lieu- 
tenant Orwig also testified that the sentinel on the post adjoin- 
ing that where he found the sentinel asleep, and took away his 
musket, gave his name as Sias ; and Private Sias testifies that 
the prisoner is Robert Stevens, and that he saw the officer of 
the guard take away his musket, and that he saw Stevens in the 
guard-house next day. 

"Further evidence should have been taken to remove the 
doubt as to identity of the accused with the sentinel found 



58 HISTORY OF THE 

asleep by Lieutenant Orwig. It was the duty of the judge ad- 
vocate to bring other witnesses before the court. The evidence, 
however, was sufficient to convict the accused. The finding is 
therefore disapproved. The extraordinary irregularity which 
extended throughout the whole proceedings of the court, closed 
as well as open, the presence of a person acting as clerk to the 
judge advocate, was animadverted upon when the proceedings 
were returned for revision, and another irregularity of a less 
serious character was likewise noted, the absence of members 
without explanation or due cause being assigned, so far as ex- 
hibited by the record. 

"The court martial, of which Col. E. M. Gregory, Ninety- 
first Pennsylvania Volunteers, is president, is dissolved. 
"By command of 

"Brig.-Gen. a. a. Humphrey, 

"Commanding Division. 
"Signed, Carson McClellan, A. A. G. " 

It was stated that reporters and a large number of army 
officers confidently expected a public execution at division 
headquarters, and the failure to convict young Stevens was 
therefore a great disappointment. The prisoner's life was 
doubtless spared by the friendly interest of the officer who 
found that the identity of the boy was not clearly shown, and 
had secured a recall of the witnesses, after his guilt had seem- 
ingly been clearly established. It is probable that the dis- 
tinguished lawyer, who was also an officer in the division, keen- 
ly enjoyed the finding of the court, and that all the rights of 
that gallant young soldier who had innocently subjected him- 
self to a fearful penalty, were properly secured to him in the 
case. He had no friends at his hand, but he was, nevertheless 
"somebody's darling," and was deserving of a better fate. 

General Humphrey was an able and an accomplished sol- 
dier, but he had yet to learn, and he did learn, many necessary 
but valuable lessons in his command of Pennsylvania Volun- 
teers. 

On the 15th of October General Humphrey was honored 
with the command of a reconnaissance towards Kearneyville, 
Leetown and Smithfield, with artillery, cavalry and one brigade 
for each division of the Fifth Corps. General Porter's report 
states that "General Humphrey accomplished in a most satisfac- 
tory manner the object of the expedition and carried out most 
ably all the instructions of the commanding general, and was 
ably seconded by every officer of his command. General Hum- 
phrey was assigned to my command September 11, 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 59 

1862. Tyler's brigade lost one man killed, nine wounded — two 
mortally, and three missing. They captured eight prisoners, 
twelve wounded, and four killed — one colonel, one lieutenant, 
two privates." 

Vast quantities of quartermasters' and commissary stores 
were daily poured in upon the waiting Army of the Potomac, 
as it was reorganizing under the great organizer who was in 
command. The rebels on the other side of the river were pau- 
pers as compared with the men of our liberal and patronizing 
and long-suffering government. 

Its great leader, the devoted Lincoln, and his advisers, 
were wearing their lives away and leaving nothing un- 
done that might seem to hasten the overthrow of the new and 
hateful Confederacy, which so nearly succeeded in forever de- 
stroying the government of our fathers. But no time nor place 
seems to be exempt from the wales of the evil and the selfish. 
Avarice and patriotism were not unmixed, and the army con- 
tractor, as well as the rebel army, were preying upon the long- 
suffering government. I was deeply impressed with this fact 
by the circumstances, which came to my knowledge at this 
time, officially, as a member of a "board of survey," of which 
I had been appointed to represent the 131st Regiment, as will 
be seen from the following order : 

Headquarters Briggs' Brigade, 
Camp Near Sharpsburg, Md., Oct. 16, 1862. 
Special Orders, No. 4: A board of survey is hereby ap- 
pointed to meet at tent of brigade commissary. Captain Steele, 
agreeably to notice, for the purpose of examining and reporting 
upon stores now in hands of brigade commissary. 

Detail for the board ; * * * First Lieut. J. R. Orwig, 
131st Regiment. * * * The junior member, Lieutenant 
Orwig, will record the proceedings. 

By order of 
Byron Porter, A. A. G. Brig.-Gen. H. S. Briggs. 

These means were happily in the hands of the officers of 
the army for their protection, and the safety of the men, and 
faithless or dishonest contractors could thus be thwarted. 
These agencies were freely employed throughout the army, 
and untold sums were saved to the government, and the "board 
of survey" rigidly examined the stores and reported and con- 
demned the tainted or inferior supplies, and all other materials 
of war which were supplied by contract, and were not as re- 
quired by the government. 



60 HISTORY OF THE 

General Briggs was in delicate health, and was again 
obliged to relinquish his command, in which he had become 
greatly interested, and he did not again resume it. Colonel Al- 
labach was again appointed to relieve him, and the Second Bri- 
gade was led by our colonel until the expiration of our term of 
service. General Briggs was a citizen of Massachussetts, and 
an able officer and courteous gentleman, who would doubt- 
less have won distinction in the splendid field which was 
opened to him by his appointment to the leadership of this Penn- 
sylvania brigade. 

Every nook and cranny of the army was industriously 
looked after and the most careful provision made for earnest 
work ahead. Detail followed detail for every conceivable ser- 
vice, from the orderly or the pioneer, to the highest position, 
and the eye of the nation was on the head of the commander of 
the great Army of the Potomac, and ominously threatened to 
"detail" General McClellan to serve in New Jersey. Some of 
the details for the 131st are recorded in the following order: 

Headquarters Second Brigade, 
Third Division, Fifth Corps. 
Special Orders, No. 7 : The following enlisted men of this 
brigade are hereby detailed for duty in the brigade hospital, 
and will report to Acting Brigade Surgeon H. F. Martin, at 7 
o'clock a. m., to-morrow : 

From 131st Regiment, as hospital stewards,William Evert, 
Company C ; Henry Hoffman, as druggist. As nurses, John 
Winegardener, Company A ; William Hester, Company B ; 
Wellington Houseworth, Company F ; Peter Calhoof and James 
Beugler, Company I. As cooks, Samuel Long, Company D; 
Matthew B. Gardner, Company F. 

Assistant Surgeon David J. Evans, 131st Regiment, will 
take charge of the brigade hospital. He will report to Acting 
Brigade Surgeon H. F. Martin, for instructions as soon as prac- 
ticable. 3y order of 

Col. p. H. Allabach, 

Commanding Brigade. 
Byron Porter, Captain and A. A. G. 

The first death in Company A occurred at Findley hos- 
plital, Washington, D. C, and was reported to the company 
November loth, 1862. It was Private Jerre Hulsizer, one of 
Lieutenant Kepler's recruits, aged 18 years. He was stricken 
down by fever, and although sent to one of the best of our hos- 
pitals, his young life was yielded a sacrifice upon the altar of 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 61 

his imperiled country, for which he had so recently and so 
freely and so cheerfully offered it. He died in the performance 
of a noble duty, no less so than if he had fallen a soldier on the 
battle-field. 

"Why don't the army move?" The errors of the battle of 
Antietam, so much discussed, were now almost forgotten, for 
the time, in the general clamor for the pursuit and the defeat 
of Lee, whose retreat from Antietam was plainly a confession 
of weakness, if nothing more. Everywhere the inquiry was 
re-echoed. 

The long and trying delays before the wooden guns of 
Manassas, and the same disappointment on the Peninsula, were 
now coming up against McClellan with renewed vigor, and his 
great opportunity, presented by his reinstatement and his suc- 
cess at South Mountain and Antietam, was rapidly being lost, 
and not only lost, but his further usefulness became a serious 
question with many of his former enthusiastic admirers, and 
his attitude toward the administration gave rise to the gravest 
feais. But success would dispel all these misgivings and 
fears, and the President believed that the Army of the Potomac 
could now successfully cope with Lee. Upon his return to 
Washington, therefore, it was agreed vipon to order an advance 
into Virginia. This would not only promote the success of 
McClellan, but would hasten the end of the rebellion. This 
seemed like a reasonable evidence of fidelity towards McClel- 
lan, and the sentiment of the soldiers rapidly centered upon the 
conviction that his complaints and severe reflections upon the 
authorities at Washington were ill-founded and unjust. 

In McClellan's "Own Story" is set forth a direct con- 
tradiction of what transpired at Antietam on the occasion of 
the President's visit, stating that in his opinion longer delay 
was necessary and that the President fully coincided in this 
view and in his plans. As soon as the President returned to 
Washington, he directed General Halleck to telegraph McClel- 
lan to make preparation for an immediate advance, and give 
battle to Lee. General Halleck and Secretary Stanton fully 
concurred in these instructions. McClellan offered various 
excuses for not complying with this order, and insisted that his 
victorious army was not prepared to advance — but Lee's de- 
feated men were sent raiding into Pennsylvania. 

The orders for an advance were several times repeated, but 
it was not until the 26th of October that the army began to 
cross the Potomac. 



62 HISTORY OF THE 

General Porter issued the following order to the Fifth 
Corps. It will serve to show how a great army is made to 
move compactly, and how important it becomes for each 
smaller division of the army to perform, promptly and pre- 
cisely, the part assigned to each, down to the soldier in the 
ranks, who must keep his place and be ready to obey orders. 
The failure of a single link, by an error, or by neglect of a 
single officer, or of a man, has often resulted in loss, disaster, 
and defeat. And this was a besetting sin in the Army of the 
Potomac, until disciplined by many defeats, and under the eye 
of the great captain who led all the armies to the final triumph, 
and by his constant blows, pounded out the life of Lee's great 
army from the Wilderness to Appomattox : 

Headquarters Fifth Army Corps, 
Camp Near Sharpsburg, Md., Oct. 26, 1862. 

Special Order No. 160 ; * * * * Orders having 
been received at an early hour this morning for the corps to be 
ready to march at six hours' notice, the commanding general 
directs that steps be taken to break camp and march at short 
notice, in order that every available man shall be in ranks and 
all in motion at the hour which may be designated. 

As far as it is possible, supply trains of ammunition, pro- 
visions and grain will be packed, each wagon to be supplied 
with at least three days' grain, and more, if it can be carried. 

On the march the men will carry three days' provisions 
in haversacks, and each division and brigade commander will 
look for and require their staff officers to take advantage on 
the march of every opportunity to renew their supplies of pro- 
vision and grain. 

During the march quartermasters and all others in charge 
of trains will accompany them, and see that they keep closed. 
Do not interrupt the movement of troops, and whenever they 
halt move over the right side of the road, unless otherwise 
specially directed. 

On the march the pioneers will always precede the regi- 
ments, and be supplied with axes, picks and shovels. Their 
knapsacks, if it is possible, will be put in the company's wagons. 

On arriving in camp the wagons will be parked as 
quickly as possible, and so as to be quickly run out in the line 
of march, and the quartermasters will see that their roads con- 
necting with the main road are in proper condition. 

The difficulties attending a march of large bodies of men, 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 63 

in a country where the roads are narrow and the obstacles nu- 
merous, are such that the energetic efforts of every officer and 
man are required to remove the obstacles to an early and rapid 
march. 

The combined efforts of all parties will thus render easy 
that which otherwise might be impossible. 

By command of 

Ma J. -Gen. F. J. Porter. 
(Signed) Fred T. Locke, A. A. G. 

This order was read to every regiment in the corps, and 
similar orders to all the regiments of the army. Then we 
were off for the campaign against Fredericksburg. 



64 



T 



HISTORY OF THE 
CHAPTER V. 

ANTIETAM TO FREDERICKSBURG. 

HE Fifth Corps moved by way of Pleasant Valley from 
Sharpsburg to Harper's Ferry. The crossing of the 
Potomac was concluded on the 2d of November, iwo 
brido-es had been placed over the river at Harper's Ferry, and 
one tower down at Berlin. The Ninth Corps, the Reserve Ar- 
tillery, Stoneman's Division, the First Corps and the bixth 
Corps crossed at Berlin. The Second Corps and the Fifth 
Corps at Harper's Ferry, above the mouth of the Shenandoah^ 
After crossing the Potomac, we then crossed the Shenandoah 
bridge, and over the Blue Ridge mountain into the lovely 
L-ouden Vallev, in the wake of the entire army. 

When on the evening of September 18, the 131st was lying 
in line of battle, iust near the brow of the hill which commands 
Sharpsburg, it was only a short month after the regiment had 
departed for the front from Harrisburg. It seems marvelous, 
even now, as we contemplate such an event. Nowhere than in 
America are armies created so suddenly. Now on the march, 
intermingled with the great Army of the Potomac, no per- 
ceptible difference was seen, and the new and old troops were 
thoroughlv consolidated. Many of the new troops had fought 
equallv well with the veterans of a year's campaigns, and in 
all the duties, as well as the lighter amusements and pastimes 
of the camp or the bivouac, the men were, m all respects, on 
terms of perfect equality. 

The story of the regiment would not be complete without 
the story of the individual soldier, how he employed his time, 
and what were the various duties in the daily routine of his 
armv life. As the army goes marching on, let us narrate a few 
available incidents. The brave boys who were winnmg our 
victories, and were making history to brighten the pages of the 
storv of the United States, were also bright and intelligent 
and'their lives in camp would be an inviting field for pen and 
picture The officers and men of our regiment had frequent- 
Iv been appealed to for such incidents in their personal experi- 
ences a few of which were secured. One of the private sol- 
diers 'who responded has given such a "lively" story I am con- 
strained to give it entire, regretting that these pages cannot be 
embellished with many others of officers and men, with whom 
must perish so much that would not only entertain, but serve to 



^^^ ' mf^f^aw'!^:- y'^' T i v^^jw p wjii 




JOSEPH G. HUTCHISON, 
First I,ieutenant Company B. 



ijrsi PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 65 

give an insight to army life, such as cannot otherwise be told. 
The exacting, hard and toilsome duties of the camp, the march, 
the picket and the battlefield were so well and so freely per- 
formed that the lighter diversions, even if not always squaring 
with the law, civil or moral, would often be overlooked by of- 
ficers just as a good school teacher sometimes "don't see" the 
escapades of the .good pupils who transgress the laws of the 
school room. The "boys" have grown old and gray, yet Com- 
rade Henry C. Diehl's story will no doubt take the reader back 
to the remarkable times when they were tenting on the Potomac 
or battling for the Union in old Virginia : 

Br.ooMER, Ok. Territory, June 13, 1895. 
Capt. J. R. Orwig, 

M\ Dear Comrade: Pardon the long and inexcusable 
delay in replying to your kind letter and the earnest request 
that I give you some of the details of my service in your com- 
pany, especially those relating to the three events which you 
name as "the pie story," "How you got hot coffee and new uni- 
forms at Fredericksburg," and "Ordered to be shot at Chan- 
cellorsville." You know we were all under orders to be .shot 
at all the time ; but I understand what you wish to know and 
I will briefly relate the circumstances in the order of their oc- 
currence. 

The pie incident happened on the march from Harper's 
Ferry to Warrenton, on the movement upon Fredericksburg. 
Now, of course, I do not expect you to say anything directly, 
or publicly, about it, as that sutler might be about and present 
his bill for damages, and as the pies were really no good, and 
money being tolerably scarce at this particular crisis of political 
parties, I almost feel, anyhow, like forever repudiating this par- 
ticular indebtedness for goods obtained under such difficulties. 
Of course, the sutler will not mind it so much if he never learns 
anything more about his pies than he learned through the of- 
ficial search through the 131st. So please be a little discreet 
about telling about it. Not that T care particularly for myself, 
or my part of the escapade, but I think the suiter has long ago 
counted them pies to profit and loss, and has dismissed it from 
his jiiind as well. P.ut it would grieve me to know that any one 
might spend good money to collect that claim ; so please, cap- 
tain be cautious in extracting history from these personal ex- 
periences of your boys. 

There was nothing wrong with the sutler, but the boys 
thought he had his pics marked too high, and we were paying 
too dearly for that i)articular whistle. Our good mothers were 



66 HISTORY OF THE 

to blame for onr fondness for the pic luxury, which we learned 
young in good old Union county. Then Uncle Sam was to 
blame, too, for he did not include pie in his rations. But, cap- 
tain, I thought the boys were sadly mistaken about the pies, and 
I concluded, upon mature reflection, when standing in the rain 
one night guarding the sutler's tent, that the pies were not only 
marked too high, but that they were setting too high. My com- 
rades pronounced my discovery sound sense, and my tent- 
mates insisted that I was the only soldier in the regiment who 
had discovered a nice distinction between a high price and a 
high place as the one could be much easier overcome than the 
other. 

You will all remember after we left Antietam we passed 
through that historic old place. Harper's Ferry. The whole 
Army of the Potomac. was singing "John Brown's body lies a- 
mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on." 

We passed up that beautiful little valley through Louden 
county, memorable for apple jack and honey bees, besides 
other important historical events. It was near a little place 
called White Plains, where we camped for a few days — waiting 
for the front to move on. The sutler had just received a 
nice patented army sheetiron oven, and knowing the weakness 
of the inhabitants of that good land of the Susquehanna and 
Juniata Valleys, he felt sure that pies and hot cakes and bread 
would c[uickly and surely absorb all of the soldiers' pay, at 
least, if not a good deal more in notes, or bonds and mort- 
gages, to be collected at hdme. My place as a sentinel was 
right by the sutler's tent. At about lo o'clock at night, I think, 
I relieved Isaiah Katherman, of Company A, and he called my 
attention to a high stack of pies inside the tent, piled up by the 
stovepipe, in a pile as high as a barber's pole. I suggested that 
we ought to have some, as it was about time for a "lO o'clock 
piece." I was extremely fond of pies, but had a preference for 
custards. Isaiah said the pies were too high in price, and I 
suggested we would see. We stepped to the door of the tent 
and the little white-haired clerk had a light burning, but was in 
bed. He was just then doing the best job of snoring that I 
ever heard, and you know, captain, that I am a good and ex- 
perienced judge of that kind of nocturnal music. I said to 
Isaiah, "I cannot see that the price is any too high ; but I think 
the wrong consists in that stack being too high. I suggest 
that we sample them, for luck," so I mounted the side of the 
tent while the other guards promised to keep an eye for the 
sutler, and I took my musket and ran the bayonet down along 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 67 

the stovepipe, as deep as I was able to insert it. The hole by 
the stovepipe was large enough. to easily let them up by lifting 
niy gun, for the pies were of /uch a texture and such a quality 
of "rpple snitz," and were S(ji firmly burned or dried that they 
"vvould not slip ofl:", and I lif}ted out as many as I could lift. 
When I got them up I asked Isaiah to hang on them and pull 
them ofif and I would get another "sample." We sampled the 
whole lot, and the little white-haired clerk snored away. Talk 
about pies — those were daisies ! 

Well, the next morning nearly every tent in the regiment 
had pies. You see we had plenty, and we thought the sutler 
would not know whom to arrest if all had pies. I think we put 
a!-.oui six in your tent, and my recollection is that you did not 
snore quite so hard as Lieutenant Kepler did. Isaiah proposed 
to leave more at your tent, but I argued that these would last 
at hast a month, which was long enough to look ahead for the 
i.nrortain life of a soldier, and besides I did not think it right 
to surfeit our officers on pies. 

Captain, do you remember those pies? The fun the boys 
made of them? They said the sutler had put the shortening in 
ihe wrong way, and made a thousand such criticisms, and some 
said that the top and bottom crusts were made from some cheap 
sole leather scraps, or that they were baked from the hides of 
the division butcher's camp, where a herd of beeves were 
slaughtered and the skins were left lying upon the ground. I 
think the sutler's love for economy might have prompted this 
use of them. I noticed, and so did the other sentinels on duty 
that night, that they were gone, and we always firmly believed 
that the crusts were cut from their hides, with the hair turned 
in, and firmly charred together with the alleged dried apples, 
thinly placed, just so as to keep the top crust from caving in. 

Now, if you give this secret away, Isaiah and I will testify 
that you got some of the pies — the stolen goods. We do not 
want anybody to know you were part ice ps criuiiiiis, although 
we could not testify that you ate any of them. Indeed we don't 
know if you could have eaten any of them. Now, in case the 
matter ever should come into court and it would involve you 
and Lieutenant Kepler, you can get my affidavit to the effect 
that you did not eat any of them — we always knew you were 
just a little tender-bitted, and it required a stiff biter to take a 
piece off them pies. Sturger Charles was as hard a biter as was in 
our company. I remember him having a pie right back of your 
tent. He was resting his chin on the hind wheel of a United 
States supply wagon, with his teeth firmly fixed in a pie, and 



68 HISTORY OF 7 HE 

he wanted me to get on top of the wagon and jump down on 
his head so that he could get his teeth through the durn thing ! 
Now, come to reflect, I do not beheve the sutler could collect 
for the pies in any court of justice. If I could get a look at the 
reports of the several companies' roll books and see the names of 
the boys who missed roll call the first night after passing 
through Harper's Ferry, where some of the boys of the 131st 
tarried late, and did not overtake the regiment until morning, I 
could name every soldier of the regiment who could bite 
through one of them pies. 

Where is Sutler Barber now? And where is Reuben F. 
Brown, the clever fellow who succeeded him? Is he the Brown 
who was recently elected sheriff of Union county? 

The sutler of the 131st was a "good fellow," but he was a 
little hard on the boys, and he missed it terribly on the pies. I 
have thought often since that they were baked to be stolen and 
for a joke on the sentinels, knowing well the strong appetite of 
the soldiers. If you find out that what I have told you might 
place anyone in a wrong light, or have any innocent ones sufi^er, 
let me know, and I will write some of the boys, who will raise 
a jack-pot and make everybody happy as we were when we 
soldiered together in the old Army of the Potomac. 

I will write the details of the other incidents later on. 
Yours with best wishes in F. C. & L. 

Henry C. Diehl. 

Raids upon the sutler were not infrequent, but usually 
they were prompted by some real or fancied grievance. Many 
of the men of the 131st will recall the event which Private Diehl 
so confidently relates, but the captain of Company A was not 
partial to sutler's pies. An investigation and search was 
ordered from regimental headquarters as a result of this rather 
irregular reciuisition by unauthorized soldiers upon an unof- 
fending sutler, and the searching party was sent through the 
camp of the 131st to find the goods and arrest the offenders. 
They began at Company A, and I felt sure no traces of pies nor 
of guilt would be left by any member of that Hartleton con- 
tingent. They passed through all the company grounds, but 
no pies were discovered, or any other tell-tale traces of the raid. 
No sooner had the searching detail left the first company 
grounds than Private Diehl appeared at company headquar- 
ters and inquired if the officers of the company were fond of 
pies, and if so, that he would be delighted to have them accom- 
pany him to his tent. And it is true that these officers indicated 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 69 

a weakness, at least for pies, which secured their prompt com- 
phance with the request, and they accompanied him to his 
tent. An ingenious contrivance for a "double end" to their 
tent, which they called their cupboard, secured the booty, and 
upon letting this down by unbuttoning the canvas, there were 
stacked piles of pies to which the liberal soldiers freely invited 
us to help ourselves. A code of law and morals was extant, 
which seemed to justify such things, and the boys, possibly, 
might have safely invited the searching posse back, or sent a 
stack of pies to the regimental headquarters, or to any company 
of the regiment, save only that the sutler should not get the 
secret. He had a hold on the paymaster! 

The date of our breaking camp near Sharpsburg was Oc- 
tober 30, although the army began to move on the 26th. We 
then marched eastward and southward through the mountain 
gaps into that beautiful Pleasant Valley, then west and north- 
west to Harper's Ferry, arriving there on the 31st. There was 
great interest manifested by the soldiers in this historic place,, 
especially as the scene of the John Brown raid. Up in the 
mountains, down in the valleys, and by the rivers, before and 
after passing over the bridges, all the regiments of the army, I 
believe, at one period or another, joined in the great chorus, 
"John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, but his soul 
goes marching on." Its literal truthfulness was universally 
observed and remarked, and the recent proclamation of the 
President, forever abolishing slavery, gave emphasis to the 
event, and as the great Union army went marching southward 
one could not help feeling that it was, indeed, executing the will 
of old John Brown, as it was wiping out slavery and subduing 
the men against whom John Brown marched, and who there 
captured him and quickly led him to trial and execution. Not, 
indeed, in the same relation, for John Brown's soul was in the 
Army of the Potomac, and his enemies were in the rebel army 
before us, with a hostile flag and making war upon the gov- 
ernment. The marching and singing columns were both for- 
ever liberating the slaves and subjugating the captors and exe- 
cutioners of Brown, now traitors themselves. John Brown's 
unlawful act was quickly punished by the extreme penalty, but 
his persecutors, although engaged in a much greater raid upon 
the government, were spared all penal punishment. A great 
and humane people, doubtless correctly, assumed that they had 
themselves brought upon themselves sufficient punishment. 

Every member of the regiment will recall Company A's 
"fiddle." It originally belonged to Sergeant Barnes, but for a 



70 HISTORY OF THE 

long while, under friendly or adverse circumstances, in rain_or 
sunshine, there never failed to be some demonstration of terp- 
sichorean revelry every evening unless the men were on duty. 
By some means or other this violin was always cared for. On 
the heavy marches, clothing or rations might be abandoned, 
but the violin never. There would always be some friendly de- 
liverer of the company's only musical instrument. It became 
quite noted throughout the division, and when for some time 
our stay was prolonged in any one camp, so as to afford the 
opportunity, many quite pretentious dances were gotten up 
among those who loved to "trip the light fantastic." It was a 
source of much innocent amusement. It was finally irretriev- 
ably ruined and lost on the deplorable "muddy march." 

The progress of the army through the Loudon Valley was 
uneventful. On the ist of November the Fifth Corps bivou- 
acked near Hillsborough, and on the 2d at Snickersville. The 
rebel generals, Gregg and Thomas, made a dash into Snicker's 
Gap with about 5,000 men, and were easily driven away, but 
our division was taken up into the side of the mountain near 
the gap, where we remained until November 6th, when we 
marched to White Plains. Our stay here was made disagree- 
able by a snow storm and cold weather. On November 8th we 
reached New Baltimore. It was in this vicinity our march was 
delayed by a muster for pay. All the tedious details were gone 
through with, and then we resumed the march with many vis- 
ions of a coming paymaster — some time. It was, possibly, this 
prospect, with other guileless considerations, which led to a 
little episode, in which three sergeants — Halfpenny, Barnes, 
and Shriner — appeared as principals, and which they will attest. 
The roads were muddy, the weather wet and cold — altogether 
the marching was very disagreeable. Some one reported a 
"commissary" in a park of army wagons, about five miles in the 
rear, and these sergeants made themselves bold to request an 
order for three canteens of whiskey. Whether it was on ac- 
count of the general gloom of the situation, or the very bold- 
ness of the request, or otherwise, after a square promise not to 
abuse the trust, an order was given for the envied rations. It 
was very doubtful if a friendly commissary could be found, 
but it was not many hours until the messenger returned with 
the envied subsistence and the three sergeants. They were dis- 
puting as to its disposition, and they appealed to their captain 
to direct what should be done with it. They looked so honest 
and sober I was encouraged to believe they would not violate 
the trust, and they were advised to take two canteens along the 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 71 

line and give any seemingly suffering fellow soldier a "dose," 
as a counter-irritant against the irritating weather. Then the 
three carefully use the other canteen for the long and dismal 
and toilsome march ahead. It was an astonishing innovation 
in the company, and many expressions of surprise and wonder 
greeted them as they passed those canteens around. But it 
was not long until the sergeants again appeared. They could 
not agree as to which of them should carry the remaining can- 
teen, as each professed to believe the other rather unsafe ; but 
they could all agree cjuite freely that the captain of Company 
A should carry it, and then, you see, he could also regulate its 
use! By this time the "nigger in the woodpile" was so trans- 
parent that he could not be mistaken, but the captain kept his 
eye on the sergeants. They were too kind for anything. They 
came so considerately and so often, and suggest so kindly to 
take "a smile" with the captain ! And the captain responded, 
wonderfully, for one who did not use intoxicants, and the thing 
seemed so easy, and would work all right. But Warrenton 
was reached and the march was delayed, soon after noon, and a 
prolonged halt was indicated, which was soon verified by an or- 
der to pitch oiir tents. Their designs had seemingly worked 
so well it was now a matter of surprise to them that the cap- 
tain was not "tight as a brick" by this time, for three of them 
who had been alternating drinks with him were now quite "so- 
so" as they emptied the canteen, and they hung around to see. 
Yet notwithstanding the miserable weather, there never was a 
jollier set than the three sergeants who had entered into a con- 
spiracy to get their captain "tight." But I can bear testimony 
to the honor and credit of the men of the 131st, that compara- 
tively few gave offense on account of the abuse of the "can- 
teen." 

CHANGE OF COMMANDERS. 

Whilst the men were luxuriating in pies and sutler sup- 
plies at White Plains, the event of the campaign up to this date 
was taking place at army headquarters. This event was no 
less than the removal of General McClellan and his final retire- 
ment from the army. This now became the absorbing topic 
which was variously discussed. On the evening of November 
7th, just after orders had been given to concentrate the army at 
Warrenton and vicinity, during a violent snow storm, some- 
what early for that locality. General Buckingham, an officer on 
special duty at the War Department in Washington, accom- 
panied by General Burnside, called upon General McClellan, 
then in the vicinitv of Salem, and delivered an order from the 



72 HISTORY OF THE 

President, relieving him of the command of the Army of the 
Potomac, and appointing General Burnside to the position. 
Up to this time General McClellan and General Burnside had 
been upon the most intimate terms, and Burnside at first de- 
clined to accept, but General Buckingham was authorized to 
say that if he did not accept, that General Hooker, or another, 
would be appointed, when he reluctantly yielded, as it was his 
duty to do, and General McClellan also advised him to do so. 
It was a period of great excitement, and the event caused in- 
tense feeling, but it was now looked upon as inevitable, on ac- 
count of the growing distrust, and the inability of McClellan 
to successfully and satisfactorily command so large an army. 
Outside the army, also, his unfriendly relations with the War 
Department and his political heresies to which he was giving 
prominence, bore heavily against him. General Burnside 
frankly stated that he did not want to command, and he felt 
himself incompetent to successfully command so large an army, 
but as it was an order, he could not disobey. By an agreement 
between them General McClellan remained with the army two 
days, until the orders of the 7th had been executed, and the 
army w^as secure on its new base on the railroads connecting 
with Washington. 

Great consideration was shown to the retiring comman- 
der, who was given the opportunity for a formal leave taking. 
The entire army was, on October 9th, drawn up as for re- 
view, and the new leader, with General McClellan and a great 
retinue of friends, made the entire circuit, passing from corps 
to corps, until all had been finally reviewed. General McClel- 
lan was ordered to Trenton, N. J., to await further orders, but 
he soon afterwards resigned his commission, and took no 
further part in the war. 

Of this event the Historian Palfrey says : "His intermin- 
able and inexcusable delays upon the Peninsula offered just 
grounds for dissatisfaction, and these seemed, to say no more, 
to be followed by similar delays on the Potomac." On the 28th 
of June, 1862, McClellan wrote to Secretary Stanton : "You 
have done your best to sacrifice this army." Such a statement 
would have been visited by the severest summary punishment 
in any other country. 

In his Harrison Bar letter, on the Peninsula, he said to 
President Lincoln: "Neither confiscation, political executions 
of persons, territorial organization of States, or forcible aboli- 
tion of slavery should, for a moment, be contemplated." 

In his letter to Secretary Stanton, July 8th, 1862, upon the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 73 

subject of "My Views," he said : "The nation will support no 
other policy. None other will call forth its energies in time to 
serve our cause. For none other will our armies continue to 
fight." 

These brief extracts, which might be indefinitely extended, 
sufficiently indicate the extraordinary attitude which McClel- 
lan assumed. The cordial and harmonious relations necessary 
to success, if the Union was to be maintained, and which should 
exist between the Executive and the War Department, and the 
Commander of the Army of the Potomac, were now out of the 
question. When, therefore, all hope for harmony was given up. 
President Lincoln, as was his habit, took upon himself the re- 
sponsibility of settling the trouble by his removal. The coun- 
try and the army quickly yielded to the judgment of the great 
leader, as the following Presidential election demonstrated. 
The opposition to the war succeded in nominating McClellan 
as their candidate, on a platform declaring the war a failure, 
against Abraham Lincoln, and they were overwhelmingly de- 
feated by the people. 

General McClellan had been the idol of the army. But his 
failures lost him the confidence of the advocates of the war. 
That he was unable to command 100,000 men was his misfor- 
tune, not his fault. That he entertained adverse political views 
to the administration and differed with the War Department, 
was his privilege. But to insist upon his own way and to in- 
terpose "his views," as he frequently did, and especially to de- 
clare that the nation could not continue to sustain their policy, 
was not a privilege, nor was it wise nor truthful. Probably 
his most fatal defect was his indecision in time of battle, and his 
overestimation of the strength of his adversary, and at the same 
time to underestimate the strength of his own forces. Thus, 
when urged to follow up the victories of South Mountain and 
Antietam, after being reinforced and well supplied, on Septem- 
ber 22d, he wrote : "The fact of the enemy remaining so long 
m our front and the indications of an advance and reinforce- 
ments seem to indicate that he will give another battle, with all 
his available strength. Our army has been very much reduced 
in the recent battles." On September 27th he again wrote: 'T 
rather apprehend a renewal of the attempt on Maryland. In 
the last battle the enemy was undoubtedly greatly superior to 
us in numbers." 

General Palfrey, the historian, declared that "he was to- 
tally devoid of ability to form a just estimate of the numerical 
strength of his opponent." But the President's removal of Mc- 



74 . HISTORY OF THE 

Clellan "punctured" the schemes which were being buih upon 
"McClellanism" in the army. It had grown to be a danger 
from the day of wooden guns at Manassas, through the dismal 
swamps of the Peninsula, on to the mutterings of political pow- 
er and inexcusable inaction and delay on the banks of the Po- 
tomac. Innocent admirers and adherents of McClellan were 
slow to yield their fidelity, and he had enthusiastic admirers to 
the end. This removal marked an epoch in the history of the 
war, and it was a natural sequence to the proclamation of 
emancipation and the wiping out of slavery from its folds in 
the Constitution. 

Having performed the ungracious duty of recording these 
views, and the mysterious and ominous utterances of our gen- 
eral and his inexplicable military delays and inaction, it is a 
pleasure to say that his personal character and social qualities 
afforded very much to admire, and it is a pleasure to write this 
of him. He was also a religious man, and a model husband and 
father. He undoubtedly had great military qualities, and he 
was loyal to the Union, for all of which he will be justly held in 
grateful remembrance by the American people. 

General Burnside was received with marked enthusiasm by 
the soldiers of theold Army of the Potomac, andespeciallybythe 
new troops. We remember with pleasure how with cheers, the 
throwing up of caps,and every other conceivable means of joy- 
ous demonstration were made when the new leader appeared 
among the men. It was not to the discredit of General Burn- 
side that he was himself the most diffident and the least enthu- 
siastic on account of his promotion. He had previously de- 
clined the appointment when offered to him. He frankly stated 
his inability to command so large an army. But now he ac- 
cepted the duties imposed upon him by the order, and he was 
now determined to succeed, if possible, and he invoked the gen- 
erous aid of all his army officers and the army. 

I am reluctant to place upon these pages what were my 
own opinions from personal experiences and observation of 
the Fredericksburg campaign under General Burnside. I be- 
lieve the movement of the army and the plan of battle were de- 
vised by the best military and official skill which was available, 
and it should have resulted in success under all the conditions, 
except for the one thing the Army of the Potomac had not yet 
learned, but was taught by the discipline of defeat. 

Success is the standard by which military men are judged. 
Burnside's attack on Fredericksburg failed — he failed to move 
as rapidly as was neccessary — possibly not his fault. He 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 75 

failed in his second attempt — the "muddy march." He frank- 
ly accepted all responsibility, and then requested to be relieved. 

There existed a spirit of rivalry among the generals bor- 
dering or insubordination. I believe it was so great at this time 
as to have made it impossible for General Burnside to succeed, 
or for any other officer then in command in any of the army 
corps of the Army of the Potomac. The writers who have so 
generally pictured the great battle of Fredericksburg as a coUos- 
sal failure, and without plan, it will be noticed uniformly admit 
that the success of our army was undoubtedly greatly lessened 
by jealousy, distrust, and a general want of the entente cordiale. 

After the departure of General McClellan, the army was 
consolidated into three grand divisions. The right was given 
to Gen. E. V. Sumner, and consisted of the Second Corps, Gen- 
eral Couch, and the Ninth Corps, General Wilcox. The center 
was given to Gen. Joseph Hooker, and consisted of the Third 
Corps, General Stoneman, and the Fifth Corps, General Butter- 
field, (General Porter having been relieved upon charges pre- 
ferred by General Pope). The left was assigned to Gen. Wil- 
liam B. Franklin, and comprised the First Corps, General John 
F. Reynolds, and the Sixth Corps, Gen. William F. Smith. The 
Eleventh Corps, under General Siegel, and the Twelfth Corps 
under General Slocum, constituted the reserve division. Major- 
General Morrell was placed in command of the upper Potomac, 
in place of General Slocum. Brig.-Gen. H. J. Hunt was chief 
of artillery, and the cavalry was under the command of Gener- 
als Pleasanton_, Averill and Bayard. 

In obedience to the orders which accompanied his appoint- 
ment to the chief command, General Burnside at once submitted 
a plan of operations to General Halleck, at Washington, who 
immediately made a visit to the army at Warrenton, as he did 
not entirely approve the plans, but favored an advance by way 
of Culpepper and Gordonville,on the upper Rappahannock. The 
matter was then submitted to the President by General Hal- 
leck, who assented to General Burnside's plan. A feint was to 
be made upon Culpepper and the upper fords, but at the same 
time a rapid move was to be made upon Fredericksburg, with 
a view upon Richmond from that vicinity. 

It will be remembered that after the battles of South 
Mountain and Antietam, all the various lines of advance were 
well considered and generally discussed before General Mc- 
Clellan was ordcrd to advance. The objection which McClel- 
lan chiefly urged was that the railroads having been destroyed, 
the army could not be subsisted from the base at Harper's 



76 HISTORY OF THE 

Ferry. General Burnside's plan adopted the inner line, permit- 
ting shorter lines between Washington and the army, and for 
supplies as the army advanced, first by the Manassas railroad, 
then from Aquia Creek, and the Rappahannock at Fredericks- 
burg, and then the nearer points along the coast all the way to 
Richmond. 

In this connection it may not be amiss to recall the letter 
of President Lincoln to General McClellan on the subject of a 
line of operations to be pursued, written to him after the battle 
of Antietam : 

Executive Mansion, 
Washington, D. C., Nov. 13, 1862. 
Major-General McClellan. 

My Dear Sir: You remember my speaking to you of what 
I called your overcautiousness. Are you not overcautious when 
you assume that you cannot do what your enemy is constantly 
doing, and should you not be at least eciual in prowess ? As I 
vmderstand, you telegraphed General Halleck that you cannot 
subsist your army at Winchester unless the railroad from Har- 
per's Ferry to that point be put in working order. But the 
enemy does now subsist his army there, at a distance nearly 
twice as far from his railroad. He now wagons from Culpep- 
per, which is just about twice as far as you would be from Har- 
per's Ferry. He is certainly not half as well supplied with 
wagons as you are. I certainly should be pleased for you to 
have the advantage of the railroad, but it wastes all the remain- 
der of the autumn to give it to you. '■' * * Exclusive 
of the water line, you are now nearer Richmond than the 
enemy is, by the route that you can take and he must. Why 
cannot you reach there before him, unless that you admit that 
he is niort than your equal on a march ? His route is the arc of a 
circle, while yours is the chord. The roads are as good on your 
line as are his. You know I advised, but did not order, you to 
cross the Potomac below, instead of above the Shenandoah and 
Blue Ridge. My idea was that this would at once menace his 
communications. If he should move North I would follow him 
closely. If he should prevent our seizing his communication, 
and move towards Richmond, I would press closely to him — 
fight him, if a favorable opportunity should present, and at 
least try to beat him to Richmond on the inside track. I say 
"try" — if we never try we shall never succeed. If he makes a 
stand at Winchester, I would fight him there, on the idea that 
if we cannot beat him when he bears the vantage of coming to 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 77 

us, we never can when we bear the vantage of going to him. 
This proposition is simple, but it is too important to be lost 
sight of for a moment. 

In coming to us he tenders us an advantage which we 
should not waive. We should not so operate as to merely drive 
him away. As we must beat him somewhere, or fail finally, we 
can do it, if at all, easier near to us than far away. If we can- 
not beat him where he now is, we never can, he again being in 
his entrenchments at Richmond. 

Recurring to the idea of going to Richmond on the inside 
track, the facility of supplying from the sideway from the en- 
emy is remarkable, as it were, by the different spokes of a 
wheel extending from the hub towards the rim, and that 
whether you move directly by the chord, or inside arc, hugging 
the Blue Ridge more closely, the chord line, as you say, carries 
you by way of Aldie and Fredericksburg, and you see how 
turnpikes, railroads, and finally the Potomac River, by Aquia 
Creek, meet you at all points from Washington. The same, 
only the lines are longer, if you pass the Blue Ridge, part of the 
way. * "^ * This is in no sense an order. 

Yours truly^ 

A. Lincoln. 

No one can presume that General Burnside had not con- 
sidered the plan of campaign. The favorable contrast which 
his prompt submission of his plans and his prompt orders for 
nu.'vement present a striking contrast to the slow and halting 
movements of General McClellan, and will forever be his proud 
distinction. He tried. That he caught inspiration of our great 
lead^T, Lincoln, as well as from the great patriotic masses of the 
North, cannot be doubted. 

On the 9th of November General Burnside had prepared 
and then forwarded to Washington, substantially, the follow- 
ing definite plan of operations, and requested its approval : He 
proposed to move at once. The disposal of his troops should be 
such as to lead Lee to suppose he would advance by way of Cul- 
pepper and Gordonsville, but as soon as necessary supplies were 
distributed he would make a rapid movement of his whole force 
upon Fredericksburg, and to Richmond on that line. 

The advantages seem to be that if we move by way of Cul- 
pepper or Gordonsville, and have a battle there, even in our 
favor, the enemy will have many lines of retreat to Richmond, 
and if he left any forces on our right it would render an advance 
by our army very precarious. Should he retreat without a bat- 



78 HISTORY OF THE 

tie, we would have to follow, with interior lines of supplies and 
reinforcements in the enemy's favor. In moving by way of 
Fredericksburg there is no point at which we will not be nearer 
Washington than the enemy, and we will, also, all the time, be 
on the shortest line possible to Richmond, the taking of which, 
at this time, would tend more to cripple the rebel cause than 
any other military event, except the absolute breaking up of 
their army. 

The presence of the Army of the Potomac at Fredericks- 
burg would render it almost impossible for the enemy to make a 
movement on Washington. 

It will be necessary in connection with this plan, to start 
at once from Washington or Alexandria, the pontoons and sup- 
plies, overland, or by barges. After reaching Fredericksburg 
our wagon trains can be organized and kept in readiness with 
supplies, when a rapid movement can be made direct upon Rich- 
mond. If detained by the elements it would be a much better 
place to winter. He requested the approval of the organization 
of three grand divisions, with enlarged powers, and the appoint- 
ment of the ranking generals to their commands. 

As previously stated, General Halleck did not entirely ap- 
prove the plan, and held a conference with General Burnside at 
Warrenton on the nth of November, but the plan so promptly 
and fully submitted, covering a definite and extended campaign, 
was agreed to, and orders were accordingly issued, and Gen- 
eral Burnside's army began to move on the 15th of November. 

Before General McClellan was removed he had given an 
order, on the 6th of November, to his chief engineer, to have all 
the pontoon bridges at Harper's Ferry taken up and sent to 
Washington. It will also be noted that General Burnside called 
attention to this and declared "it would be necessary to start 
at once from Washington or Alexandria, the pontoons and sup- 
plies, overland or by barges." 

Frequent consultations with his grand division comman- 
ders, as well as his corps commanders, fairly establishes a pre- 
sumption, at least, that there was a plan of campaign, as well 
as a plan of battle, and these were well understood, and a long- 
sufifering and patriotic people, together with the rank and file 
of the ill-fated Army of the Potomac, had their hopes re- 
newed, and they very generally manifested the consolation 
which it gave. 

The vicinity of Warrenton is very beautiful. The men of 
the 131st will never forget the day we started upon the new 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 79 

campaign and marched in compact columns through the streets 
of that beautiful little city of Warrcnton, which was occupied 
by the rebels again as soon as we had passed. 

LEAVING WARRENTON. 

The right grand division moved on the 15th of November; 
the center and left and the cavalry on the i6th, and they arrived 
in front of, or opposite, Fredericksburg, on the Rappahannock 
River, on the 17th, i8th and 19th, respectively. General Hum- 
phrey's Division, with the Fifth Corps, with the 131st, advanced 
by way of Warrenton Junction, where we bivouacked, and then 
by way of Spotted Tavern, to our position in camp near Fal- 
mouth, on Potomac Creek, several miles from the river, with 
the center grand division and with the Fifth Corps and the 
Third Division. 

The total present for duty on the morning of November 
loth, as shown by the morning reports of that day, was 127,574. 
When General Burnside assumed command there were present 
3,911 army wagons, 907 ambulances, 7,139 artillery horses, 
9,582 cavalry horses, 8,6c)3 team horses, 12.483 mules, a total 
of 37.892 animals and 5,000 wagons. This did not include the 
Third, Eleventh and Twelfth Corps, which subsequently joined 
the Army of the Potomac, and increased the aggregate to 63,000 
animals. If the beef cattle were added, it would have presented 
the spectacle of about ecjual numbers of men and animals, or a 
total of 255.000 men. horses and cattle, in the mighty column 
which General Burnside. together with the sorely-tried officials 
at Washington were wielding to hammer out the life of the new 
rebel government at Richmond, which was seeking to destroy 
this great Union. How little could be seen of all this great body 
by the individual soldier in the ranks, as we marched along. 

WAITING BEFORE FREDERICKSBURG. 

The movement of the army was prompt and successful. 
The transfer from Warrenton to the Rappahannock, a distance 
almost as great as that from Washington to Frederick City, 
Md., was accomplished in two days. The rebel army under 
General Lee was now scattered from the valley to Gordonsville 
down to and below Fredericksburg. From the morning reports 
on December 10, just before the battle of Fredericksburg, the 
rebel army reported "present for duty" 78,228 men. The sud- 
den placing of this vastly superior army on the banks of the 
Rappahannock should have enabled its commander to advance 
upon Richmond successfully, if a crossing of the river was 
safely effected. It was on this account Halleck chose the upper 



80 HISTORY OF THE 

fords, where no pontoons were needed. But its disadvantages 
consisted in its longer lines of approach, and greater distance 
from the base of supplies. 

The army was now well equipped and its morale splendid, 
to all appearances, and could have easily taken possession of 
Fredericksburg, but for the absence of the pontoons. But the 
first failure was about to occur. General Hooker wished to 
cross at once with his grand division, but, unless supported, he 
would be in danger by the concentration of the enemy upon 
him. Burnside did not permit him to do so. The plan of ad- 
vancement had been fully considered. When the army moved 
from Warrenton all authority and responsibility were fully com- 
mitted to General Burnside. Frequent consultations and the 
presence of the three grand division commanders, who had been 
given enlarged powers for the very purpose of enabling them to 
be more effective on the battlefield, seemed to have left nothing 
undone bv the new commander. But the pontoons which were 
ordered to Washington from Harper's Ferry by McClellan, and 
to Fredericksburg by Burnside, and ought to have been there 
then, were still at Washington, and the movement was there- 
fore delaved. The Rappahannock is navigable to this point, 
and above the city the recent rains had greatly swollen the 
stream. This made it impossible for Burnside to reap the ad- 
vantage of the weakness of Fredericksburg, and the delay per- 
mitted Lee to concentrate his forces again in front of his new 
antagonist. Every other detail seemed to have been well exe- 
cuted. Supplies in sufficiency came by Belle Plain and Aquia 
Creek. The wharfs were repaired and the new and convenient 
base afforded a most desirable point for supplying the army 
here and when it advanced beyond Fredericksburg. 

General Burnside now promptly informed General Hal- 
leck that the pontoons had not been placed there, and that the 
fords were not passable for infantry and artillery, and his 
progress was arrested. He reported that he would move over 
as soon as the pontoons arrived, as the enemy did not seem to 
be in great force on the opposite side. The bridges did not ar- 
rive, and on the 22d he sent the following earnest plea and state- 
ment covering the situation completely : 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
Near Falmouth, Nov. 22. 1862. 

General: By reference to my plan of operations, submit- 
ted by order of the commander-in-chief, it will be found that 
one of the necessary parts of that plan was to have started from 
Wa.shington at once pontoons sufficient to span the Rappahan- 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 81 

nock at Fredericksburg twice, and I was assured that at least 
one train woukl leave as soon as the general-in-chief and 
General Meigs returned, (November 13,) and I proposed, if an 
escort was required and I was informed by telegraph, I would 
furnish it from my cavalry. Receiving no information of its 
departure, I ordered Lieutenant Comstock to telegraph in refer- 
ence to it. It is very clear that my object w^as to make the move 
to Fredericksburg very rapidly, and to throw a heavy force 
across the river, before the enemy could concentrate a force to 
oppose the crossing, and expected the pontoons would arrive at 
this place nearly simultaneously with the head of the army. Had 
that been the case the whole of General Sumner's column — 33,- 
000 strong — would have crossed into Fredericksburg at once 
over a pontoon bridge, in front of a city filled with families of 
rel^el officers and sympathizers with the rebel cause, and garri- 
soned by a small squadron of cavalry and a battery of artillery, 
which General Sumner silenced within an hour after his ar- 
rival. 

Had the pontoons arrived even on the 19th or 20th, the 
army could have passed over with trifling opposition. But now 
the opposite side of the river is occupied by a large rebel force 
under General Longstreet, with batteries ready to be placed in 
position to operate against the working parties and the troops in 
crossing. 

The pontoons have not yet arrived, and the river is too 
high for the troops to cross at any of the fords. 

You can readily see that much delay may occur in the gen- 
eral movement, and I deem it my duty to lay these facts before 
you and to say that I cannot make the promise of probable suc- 
cess with the faith that I did when I supposed that all the parts 
of the plan would be carried out. 

Another material part of the proposition was for stores to 
be sent, with all surplus wagons in Washington, which would 
probably have supplied our army with from five to ten days' 
provisions. These trains could have moved with perfect safety, 
as they would have been protected by the movement of this 
army. I do not recall these facts in any captious spirit, but 
simply to impress upon the general-in-chief that he cannot ex- 
pect me to do as much as if all the parts of the plan had been 
carried out. In fact a force can be arrayed against us at this 
place that would very naturally retard us. 

The work of quartermasters' and commissary departments 
at Aquia Creek or I'elle Plain has been most completely ac- 
complished, and I am not prepared to say that every effort has 



82 HISTORY OF THE 

not been made to carry out the other parts of the plan, but I 
must in honesty and candor say I cannot feel that the move in- 
dicated in my plan of operations will be successful after two 
very important parts of the plan have not been carried out, no 
matter for what reason. 

The President said that the movement, in order to be suc- 
cessful, must be made quickly, and I thought the same. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

A. E BURNSIDE. 

On the 1 2th of November Colonel Spaulding, who was in 
charge of the pontoons, was still cjuietly encamped with his de- 
tachment at Berlin, near Harper's Ferry. On the afternoon of 
that day he received an order from the Chief Engineer of the 
Army of the Potomac, Capt. J. C. Duane, dated November 6, 
in substance as follows : 

"Proceed to Washington with the balance of your com- 
mand and make up a pontoon train on wheels as speedily as 
possible, with the necessary transportation, and be prepared to 
march at a moment's notice." 

The order was received at 2 o'clock on the afternoon of the 
1 2th, six days after it had been written, it having passed by 
Rectortown (General McClellan's headquarters) and Wash- 
ington City. At 6 o'clock the bridges had been taken up and a 
train of thirty-six boats was made up in rafts on the canal, and 
was on its way to Washington City. At 10:30 next morning a 
train of forty more boats and all the remaining material was on 
the way, the boats by canal and the wagons by land, accom- 
panied by the remainder of the command. 

Colonel Spaulding took the cars for Washington and ar- 
rived there at 10 130 p. m. on the 13th, and next day he was or- 
dered by General Halleck, through General Woodbury, to put 
his pontoons and material in depot, as fast as it arrived, and 
go into camp with his men. The order to make up a land train 
at Washington "zvas thus countermanded," and knowing that 
General McClellan had been relieved, after the order had been 
given. Colonel Spaulding inferred that the plan of campaign 
was changed, and the pontoon train was not required. In re- 
sponse to General Burnside's inquiry, the pontoons were now 
again sent forward, and the pitiful story of their transmission 
is little less pathetic than the distress of the Army of the Po- 
tomac so seriously embarrassed by their non-arrival, when so 
indispensable to the campaign. The officers of the train were 
seemingly anxious to perform their duty, but between conflict- 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 83 

ing- orders and the confusion incident to the making^ up of the 
trains, together with untoward weather, caused such delay as 
to defeat the plan of the campaign at this point. 

In reply to the inquiries concerning the pontoons General 
Bumside received the following : 

Washington, D. C, Nov. 14, 1862. 

Lieutenant Coinsfoclc: I received your two telegrams to- 
day. Captain Spaulding has arrived and thirty-six pontoons. 
P'orty more are expected in the morning. Our train can be got 
ready to start on Sunday or Monday morning, November 16 or 
17. General Halleck is not inclined to send another train by 
land, but will allow it, probably, if General Burnside insists. A 
second tram can be sent by water to Aquia Creek, and from 
thence by teams. ' j) p Woodbury, 

Brigadier-General. 

This news gave delight at army headquarters, as the thirty- 
six pontoons would be sufficient for a bridge or two, and justi- 
fied an advance to the banks of the Rappahannock, which was 
so promptly given and successfully executed. 

When General Sumner arrived at Falmouth on the 17th, 
he proposed crossing a portion of his force by a ford, and taking 
Fredericksburg, but General Burnside decided that it would be 
impracticable to cross a large body of troops, and without 
bridges would be unsafe. 

General Flooker proposed to go up and cross at the fords 
above Falmouth, and this was regarded as an independent 
movement, but taken in connection with the g'eneral plan it 
would be premature. It was desired that the movement should 
be made in compact columns, and keeping them in easy support- 
ing distance, until a decisive blow could be struck. The sudden 
advance to the Rappahannock soon disclosed the purpose of 
General Burnside, and General Lee now rapidly concentrated 
his army to meet him. 

The gravity of the situation was most distressing to Gen- 
eral lUirnside, and he held frequent consultations with his grand 
division commanders. The immediate occupation of Fred- 
ericksburg was part of the plan of advance. This was now im- 
possible, and a change was necessary, as Lee was intrenched be- 
hind Fredericksburg in a strong position. Various schemes 
Avere suggested and investigated. One was to cross the river 
about fourteen miles below, and gunljoats were sent there to aid. 
These attracted Lee and he sent a large force there, the whole 
of D. H. Hill's Division. These several movements compelled 



84 HISTORY OF THE 

Lee to scatter his forces along the river, and it now appeared 
to General Burnside that the enemy was sufficiently separated 
to make it possible to cross at Fredericksburg, although it 
would still be necessary to do so "in the face of a vigilant and 
formidable foe." 

It was intended, by crossing at Skinker's Neck, fourteen 
miles down the river, to have forced Lee to battle outside of his 
entrenchments. When this intention was abandoned in conse- 
quence of the large force found there, it was hoped and be- 
lieved that the weakest point and most favorable position might 
be found on the Manaponox and the open plains below the 
heights of Fredericksburg, where, by a prompt and vigorous 
assault, the lines of the enemy could be pierced and Lee's forces 
separated and his strong position turned. This was now the 
general plan. 

The enemies of General Burnside have very generally en- 
deavored to make it appear that there was no plan of battle. 
Swinton's History states that he did not want to fight a battle, 
but hoped to pass the Winter comfortably where he was, and in 
the Spring embark his army for the James River, on the Pen- 
insula. This, and similar statements, were induced upon the 
wisdom suggested by the subsequent trial and failure, as they 
were not at any time declared by General Burnside, and were 
not in harmony with the facts. There was a distinct plan of op- 
erations, and by and with the consent of the highest author- 
ities, and upon the line with the demands of the army and the 
patriotic and long-sufifering people, who were demanding action 
by the defeat of the enemy. 

So careful a writer as General Palfrey states that Burn- 
side had formed no plan of battle, and that when he proposed 
to cross the river under the circumstances, it was well calculat- 
ed to fill the minds of his lieutenants with grave misgivings. 
But General Burnside did cross his large army successfully. 
He penetrated the enemy's lines below the Heights of Fred- 
ericksburg on the plains as he intended to do. Possibly the gen- 
erals referred to by Palfrey — Hooker and Franklin — were too 
much "occupied with grave misgivings" to carry out their 
manifest duties in the crisis, for if Hooker's Grand Division and 
Franklin's on the left, had made the attack simultaneously, as 
they were directed to do. In this connection it may be well 
to recall what General Meade did, who led the advance on our 
left, and to hear what that officer declared, who was probably 
the best general on the field, and why the battles failed : 

'T think if we had been supported by an advance of the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 85 

whole line, there is every reason to believe we would have held 
our ground, and the effect of this w^ould have produced the 
evacuation of the other line of the enemy's works in the rear of 
Fredericksburg." (Testimony before the committee on the con- 
duct of the war.) 

This success had been achieved by Meade's forces — a part 
of Franklin's forces, the Pennsylvania Reserves — and it was 
the point General Burnside hoped to gain, and was to be fol- 
lowed by Franklin's Grand Division, simultaneously with an at- 
tack on the right upon the Heights. General Franklin was 
given 60,000 men for the obvious purpose of penetrating Lee's 
army there, and then holding the line and thus separating the 
enemy. It was the key to the rebel stronghold, and even if 
there had been no distinct plan apparent to Generals Franklin 
and Hooker, the situation there ought to have appealed to them 
to give all their forces to support the advance. Then these 
skillful writers would have easily found most brilliant plans of 
battle, clear and well defined orders, as well as matchless gen- 
eralship, when Franklin crushed Lee's right and center^ and 
Hooker scaled the Heights and fell upon the rear of the enemy 
and demolished the great army of Northern Virginia ! Alas, 
the difference of failure and success ! 

During the long wait for the pontoons the camp of the 
131st was officially designated "Camp near Potomac Creek." 
It will be remembered that we filed into the thick pine woods, 
where the regiment was not even able to stack arms, on account 
of the density of the forest. But it was quickly transformed 
into a fine camp and a good parade ground. The cold weather 
was making it necessary to have better protection than that 
which was afforded by the little "dog tents," and the pine 
woods afforded excellent material for huts and bedding. Our 
camp was on an elevation and the winds had full sweep. But 
the skill and industry of the men soon improvised snug and 
comfortable quarters, many of them including a fireplace inside. 
This ingenious contrivance consisted of a hole in the ground, 
about eighteen inches deep, and a lateral opening to the out- 
side, underneath the wall of the tent, where a chimney made of 
old barrels, or of cross sticks and mud plaster, secured the 
necessary draft. Quite a fire could be built inside and be safely 
maintained, with care, and the tent rendered most comfortable. 
But many hapless fellows had their "homes" destroyed by fire, 
as the frequent alarms indicated, when a cabin or a tent, along 
with their huge chimney, went up in smoke. The company 
headquarters consisted of a wall tent, with a wedge, or A tent 



86 HISTORY OF THE 

addition, usually used for a dormitory. In company quarters 
we had one of these fire places, which through the ingenuity of 
"Charley," the officer's cook, was improved by means of flat- 
tened stovepipe, and other hardware appliances available, so as 
to radiate the heat and render the tent quite comfortable in the 
coldest weather of the locality. The wedge tent was attached 
to the rear and connected with the wall tent by an opening of 
the seam. The bed covered all of the wedge tent, and consist- 
ed of a body of pine twigs, about a foot in thickness, placed 
upon a "spring bed" of poles, upon which army 
blankets were spread, covering the entire surface, and this af- 
forded a real cozy and comfortable bed, with only the thin cover 
of the canvas of the tent between us and the clouds, and the 
skv, and the stars. The space was ample for three or more, 
and at this time it was shared with Captain Moyer, not then on 
duty, and Private Frank Wilson, whose delicate health appealed 
to our consideration, as he needed greater care than was af- 
forded in the tents of the comrades whose robust health and 
buoyant spirits could find comfort, or extract it from less 
sumptuous surroundings. The social delights of those quar- 
ters, and congenial companionship of that Winter camp, in 
these little households of officers and men, will not be forgot- 
ten, and they constitute a memorable event in our army life. 

There were many incidents up to this part of our history 
which should be recorded, but I cannot avail myself of the data, 
nor can I interview the comrades so as to refresh the memory 
and record them correctly. 

Before we moved from Warrenton, Company A was de- 
tailed, with two other companies of the brigade as a detachment 
to guard an ammunition train, which it was important to get 
to a remote point, over an unprotected country. We were only 
permitted to take our best men, and no one was to be left fall 
out of the ranks, as rebel bands were hanging about, and it 
would be surely death or capture to the hapless one who would 
do so. The wagons were heavily laden and the march was a 
severe one. We had not gone many miles when Private Wil- 
liam Bordner came to me and declared he must fall out, as he 
was entirely exhausted. Here was a dilemma. I was instruct- 
ed to allow no one to ride upon the wagons. He must take his 
chances. I was powerless to aid him, except by the friendly 
advice which I gave him. The foot which the examining sur- 
geon at Harrisburg, upon the occasion of his muster, had feared 
would disable him, now had given out, and he could march 
no longer. After a renewed eiTort to keep up he finally fell 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 87 

cut, and he soon became a prisoner in the hands of the rebels. 
It was a lon^ while before we learned his fate. He was cap- 
tured soon after falling out and the detachment had gone out of 
sight. After suffering the discomforts of captivity for some 
days he was paroled and was sent to a camp of paroled and 
exchanged prisoners, near Alexandria, Va. The injured foot 
proved to be a disability which unfitted him for the service, 
and he was honorably discharged, a notice of which we re- 
ceived in the following Spring, and will be seen by the follow- 
ing: 

Headquarters Second Battalion, 
Camp Near Annapolis, Md., April lo, 1863. 
Colonel 131ST Pennsylvania Volunteers: 

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that Private Wil- 
liam Bordner, of Company A, 131st Regiment, Pennsylvania 
Volunteers, w^as dismissed from the service of the United 
States at Camp Banks, near Alexandria, Va., on the 27th day 
of March, 1863, on surgeon's certificate of disability. 

By order of Brigadier-General Martindale, commander 
of the defences of Washington. 

Very respectfully, 

O. L. COLVIN, 

Captain Ninety-third New York Volunteers, late Commander 
of Camp Banks, Va. 

This notice was accompanied by an abstract of the cloth- 
ing account, etc., from November 15, 1862, from Joseph Wil- 
' Hams, late commandant at camp of paroled and exchanged pris- 
oners near Alexandria for clothing, etc., lost by casualties of 
war. The loss of Private Bordner was sincerely regretted by 
the company, as he was a good soldier and a genial and popular 
comrade. He was the only member of Company A who fell 
into the hands of the enemy. 

One of the unpleasant events which so sadly marred social 
life in the regiment, occurred here a short time previous to the 
battle of Fredericksburg. Nearly all the lieutenants of the reg- 
iment were cited before a board of examiners. Under a clause 
in the Army Regulations provision is made for the dismissal of 
incompetent, or otherwise objectionable officers, and it is a 
wholesome and necessary provision. This may be done 
through a board of examiners. It was susceptible of great in- 
justice in the hands of incompetent officers, who resorted to this 
means sometimes out of other motives than for the good of the 
service. Lieut. William H. Wolf, of Company E, was among 



88 HISTORY OF THE 

those who had been cited for examination, who resented the 
matter as an insuU, and regarded it as a vindictive measure, 
aimed at one or two, by the lieutenant-colonel, who was tem- 
porarily in command of the regiment. At a casual meeting of 
Lieutenant-Colonel Shaut and Lieutenant Wolf, upon the 
camp grounds, the former made some irritating remark, when 
Lieutenant Wolf, with his open hand, struck the lieutenant- 
colonel squarely in the face, as his reply, accompanied with re- 
marks extravagantly expressive of his contempt, and remind- 
ing him at the same time that he and the others whom he dis- 
credited, had offered themselves to fight, and in that line, or any 
other proper soldierly duty, they yielded nothing to the acci- 
dental commander of the regiment. Of course Lieutenant 
Wolf's act could not be defended, and the lieutenant-colonel 
immediately preferred charges against Lieutenant Wolf, who 
was tried b}^ court martial. On account of some error the find- 
ings of the court were subjected to revision, and in the mean- 
time the battle of Fredericksburg took place and Lieutenant 
Wolf distinguished himself in the battle. His captain, Davis, 
being wounded, and the first lieutenant, Bruner, killed, he led 
his company, and did it well. \w revising the record, although 
the court fovmd him guilty of the charges preferred, extenuat- 
ing circumstances were found and he was reinstated, and sub- 
secj^uently promoted. Unfortunately the lieutenant-colonel, in 
the same battle, was early disabled by "concussion" and he left 
the field, when Major Patton took command. The lieutenant- 
colonel, after this episode, followed up his action against the 
lieutenants by an order placing ten of them under arrest upon 
charges of conduct unbecoming officers, on account of alleged 
criticisms made of the lieutenant-colonel. This aroused the 
accused officers, who went in a body to the quarters of the lieu- 
tenant-colonel, where the plain talk which followed resulted in 
a better understanding, and the officers' swords were returned, 
and the order for the arrest was withdrawn and no further 
charges were preferred. 

The board of examiners, when they convened for the ex- 
amination of the accused officers cited before them, were justly 
suspicious that all was not right in the 131st, from the unusual 
number of officers reported from a single regiment, and they 
sought for an explanation of the matter. Only two of the offi- 
cers were examined, then waiving the further examination they 
requested an explanation, and for this purpose extended the 
liberty of replying freely to questions concerning the relations 
existing between the lieutenant-colonel and the lieutenants. 
From all the statements it was concluded that the sfood of the 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 89 

service did not require that these ofificers should be dismissed 
the service, and without a further formal examination in the 
tactics they made a report in accordance with these facts, and 
all were directed to report to their regiment for duty. The un- 
fortunate incident left resentments which were never healed. 
Several of the lieutenants refused to obey the order for an ap- 
pearance before the board, one of whom was killed in battle 
whilst bravely leading his company in the charge upon the 
stonewall at Fredericksburg, and all of them rendered distin- 
guished service. The board reported the entire matter and in- 
quired the reasons for the failure to report by these officers, but 
the whole unfortunate case was, in view of all the circum- 
stances, soon after the battle of Fredericksburg, entirely aban- 
doned. 

During all our long stay in these camps we were blissfully 
ignorant of the causes which were delaying the forward move- 
ment under new and spirited commanders. The expectation 
that we would engage the enemy was general, and there were 
constant evidences of an intended forward movement. We re- 
ceived orders now to report our men who were absent from the 
regiment on detached service. This detailed report of the 4th 
of December, will be an interesting record and was as follows : 

Camp Near Potomac Creek, 
Col. p. H. Allabach, ^^c- 4. 1862. 

Commanding Brigade : 

I have the honor to herewith transmit a list of men on de- 
tached service, or permanently detailed from the regiment. 

Company A. — Sergt. Isaac Treat, clerk at division head- 
quarters (General Humphrey,) detailed October 8; Corp. Har- 
rison Haffer, guard at General Butterfield's headquarters, de- 
tailed September 26; Private Isaac Brocius, do; Jeremiah 
Sommer, do ; Archibald Maxwell, guard at General Hum- 
phrey's headquarters, detailed October 2 ; Christian Kerr, do ; 
John Winegardner, nurse at brigade hospital, detailed 
October 29 ; William Taylor, brigade teamster, detailed No- 
veml)er 10; William Criswell, ambulance corps, detailed Sep- 
tember 28 ; Charles Weiss, nurse in regimental hospital, detailed 
September 26. 

Company B. — Private John Meadowgraft, ambulance 
corps, detailed September 28; George T. Piper, herdsman. 

Company C. — William H. Beck, at brigade headquarters ; 
Wesley Ely, ambulance corps, detailed September 28; William 



90 HISTORY OF THE 

Evert, brigade hospital steward, detailed September 29 ; James 
W. Lyon, at corps headquarters ; Alonzo Osman, signal corps, 
Second Brigade, detailed November 3. 

Company D. — G. H. Pratt, in Battery G, Fourth United 
States Artillery, Second Brigade, detailed October 13 ; J. A. 
Long, do. ; G. D. Mitchell, Battery C, First New York Artillery, 
Second Brigade, detailed October 13; A. P. Mitchell^ W. R. 
Anderson, FL T. Mitchell, E. C. Kyle, W. J. Barger, G. W. 
Wilson, do. ; Sergt. Roland Thompson, at General Humphrey's 
headquarters, detailed September 23 ; Sergt. Homer Benedict, 
at General Butterfield's headquarters, detailed September 25 ; 
Private W. Walters, J. P. Landis, J. M. Stine, do. ; W. A. 
Mitchell, nurse in regimental hospital, detailed September 25 ; 
W. R. Bell, at division headquarters, detailed November 24; 
Hiram Smith, brigade blacksmith ; H. C. Hoffman, regimental 
hospital druggist, detailed October 29. 

Company E. — James Murphy, division teamster; Samuel 
Irwin, guard at brigade headquarters ; A. F. Irwin, brigade 
wagon guard ; James M. Ritter, herdsman. 

Company F. — Jeremiah Long, reserve artillery; Henry 
Mull, do ; James Renninger, ambulance corps. Second Brigade ; 
G. D. Shive, General Humphrey's headcjuarters, detailed Sep- 
tember 23 ; J. R. Smith, do. ; W. Houseworth, hospital nurse 
at Second Brigade hospital; M. B. Gardner, hospital cook. 

Company G. — Sergt. P. Hoffman, provost guard, detailed 
September 23 ; Private Pharion Shaffer, do. ; Alfred Campbell, 
artillery reserve ; H. B. Sweet, do. ; Jeft'erson Hewet and David 
D. Griffith, signal corps. 

Company H. — Wihiam Groover, reserve artillery; Silas 
McCarty, do. ; Merrick Reeder, ambulance corps. 

Company I. — Sergt. John H. Love, clerk at division head- 
quarters (General Humphrey) ; Private C. S. Morton, hospital 
nurse ; R. McMurry, wagon guard ; John Buck, guard at bri- 
gade headquarters ; William Yost, do. ; A. Good, provost guard 
at division headquarters ; J. M. Beugler, nurse at brigade hos- 
pital ; Peter Calhoof, Josiah Pierson, do. ; H. C. George, Balti- 
more railroad; Irea Sigle, ammunition teamster; William 
Stover, ambulance corps. 

Company K. — ^James Ewing, provost guard at General 
Humphrey's headquarters ; Charles Miller, with ammunition 
train ; Sergeant Lockart, ambulance corps, Second Brigade ; 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 91 

Private Vanzant, do ; Private Yarlet, reserve artillery corps ; 
Private Stamm, Battery C, First New York Artillery ; Privates 
Forsythe, Woomer, Brower and Richards, do. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Lt.-Col. William B. Shaut, 
Commanding 131st Regiment, P. V. 
S. H. Pollock, Adjutant. 

Clerks and guards, and as many others on detached service 
as possible, were usually returned to their companies before a 
battle. Soon after, all who were sick, or unable to march, were 
ordered to the rear, or to hospitals. Our consolidated morning 
report of December loth indicated the strength of the regiment 
to be as follows : 

Company A. — Present for duty : Commissioned officers, 
2; enlisted men, 47; on extra duty, 6; sick; 13; aggregate, 68; 
absent on detached service — officers, i; enlisted men, 10; ab- 
sent, with leavCj 15 ; present and absent, 94. 

Company B. — Present for duty : Commissioned officers, 
3 ; enlisted men, 63 ; on extra duty, 3 ; sick, 1 1 ; aggregate, 80 ; 
absent, on detached service, 6; a]3sent with leave, 12; present 
and absent, 98. 

Company C. — Present for duty : Officers, 3 ; enlisted men, 
58 ; on extra duty, enlisted men, 3 ; sick, 1 1 ; aggregate, 72 ; ab- 
sent on detached service, 6; with leave, 17; without leave, i; 
present and absent, 96. 

Company D. — Present for duty : Officers, 3 ; enlisted men, 
39; on extra duty, 6; sick, 13; aggregate, 61; absent on de- 
tached service, 17 ; with leave, 17 ; present and absent, 95. 

Company E. — Present for duty : Officers, 3 ; enlisted men, 
59 ; on extra duty, 7 ; sick, 8 ; aggregate, yy ; absent on detached 
service, 2; with leave, 13; present and absent, 92. 

Company F. — Present for duty : Officers, 2 ; enlisted men, 
50; on extra duty, 5; sick, 10; aggregate, 67; absent on de- 
tached service, 6 ; absent with leave, 20 ; present and absent, 93. 

Company G. — Present for duty : Officers, 2 ; enlisted men, 
66; on extra duty, i ; sick, 13 ; aggregate, 81 ; absent on detailed 
service, 6 ; with leave, 7 ; present and absent, 94. 

Company H. — Present for duty : Officers, 2 ; enlisted men, 
54; on extra duty, i ; sick, officers, i ; enlisted men, 14; aggre- 
gate, y2; absent on detached service, 4; with leave, 14; present 
and absent, 90. 



92 HISTORY OF THE 

Company I. — Present for duty : Officers, 2 ; enlisted men, 
46 ; on extra duty, 9 ; sick, officers, i ; enlisted men, 1 1 ; aggre- 
gate, 69; absent on detached service, 6; with leave, 21 ; present 
and absent, 96. 

Company K. — Present for duty : Officers, 2 ; enlisted men, 
53; on extra duty, 7; sick, officers, i ; enlisted men, 10; aggre- 
gate, 73; absent on detached service, 9; with leave, 13; present 
and absent, 95. 

Total present for duty with regiment : Commissioned offi- 
cers, regimental, 9; company, 29; enlisted men, 558; present 
and absent, 960. 

Lieutenant Reeder, of- Company C, on account of 
continued illness, resigned and returned to his home in North- 
imiberland county. Pa. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 93 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BATTLE OE FREDERICKSBURG. 

THE pontoons having arrived every preparation was im- 
mediately made for an advance. The proximity of the 
contending' armies made it clear that a movement meant 
a battle, and the orders, having been daily looked for, were not 
a surprise when, on December loth we received notice to pre- 
pare for the march. 

The despatches of General Bnrnside to General Halleck, 
at Washington, from December 9th to the opening of the battle 
of Fredericksburg, set forth his plans as far as they were made 
public, whilst they also disclose the fact of frequent confer- 
ences with the grand divison conmianders, and their approval 
of his movement : 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
Dec. 9, 1863, 4:05 a. m. 

In accordance with your directions I send you copies of or- 
ders issued, which I hope will be satisfactory. I will send a 
more definite dispatch after my interview with commanders of 
grand divisions to-day. Our movements have been very much 
embarrassed by the cold weather, but we still hope for success. 
The gunboats will not be able to assist us, in consec[uence of 
the ice in the river ; in fact, it is feared they may now be 
frozen in at a point some thirty miles below here. The harbor 
at Belle Plain was frozen over this morning. The men suffer 
from cold, but the sick list is not very largely increasing. I 
hope to make the attempt to cross on Thursday morning at 
daybreak, with chances of success in our favor. 

A. E. BURNSIDE, 

Major-General commanding Army of Potomac. 
j\Iaj.-Gen. H. W. Halleck, General-in-Chief, Washington. 

The orders directing the Twelfth Corps, General Slocum, 
to leave Harper's Ferry, and, with the Eleventh Corps, General 
Siegel, to join the Army of the Potomac, were also sent to 
Washington, as well as to the several commanders, but are 
oniit'ed here. 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
Dec. 9, 5 a. m. 

The three commanders of grand divisions will report at 
these headquarters at 12 o'clock to-day. In the meantime they 



94 HISTORY OF THE 

\m\\\ give the necessary orders to enable them to place their com- 
mi'nds in position at daybreak on the morning of the nth, at 
such points as may be indicated by verbal instructio-ns from the 
general commanding, not to exceed eight miles from their pres- 
ent pofitions. The officers and men should be provided with 
three days' cooked rations. Forty rounds of ammunition must 
be carried in cartridge boxes, and twenty rounds in pockets. 
The ammunition wagons and batteries will be supplied with 
at least three days' forage. Definite verbal instructions will be 
given as to the disposition of other trains of the command. The 
chief of artillery will detail such batteries as may be necessary 
to protect the crossing of the river, and, if the crossing is suc- 
cessful, the batteries will join their proper columns, if necessary. 
Definite verbal instructions will be given as to the disposition of 
the cavalry of the different grand divisions. 

By command of 

Gen. a. E. Burnside, 
John G. Parke, Chief of StafT. 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
Dec. 9, 1862, II :30 p. m. 

General: All the orders have been issued to the several 
commanders of grand divisions and heads of departments for 
cur attempt to cross the river on Thursday morning. The plans 
of the movements are somewhat modified by the movements of 
the enemy, who have been concentrating in large force oppo- 
site the point at which we originally intended to cross. I think 
now that the enemy will be more surprised by crossing immedi- 
ately in our front than in any other part of the river. The 
commanders of grand divisions coincide with me in this opinion 
and have accordingly ordered the movement, wdiich will enable 
UP to keep the force well concentrated, at the same time cover- 
U'g our comnuniications in the rear. I am convinced that a 
large force of the enemy is now concentrated in the vicinity of 
Port Royal, its left resting near Fredericksburg, which we hope 
to turn. We have an abundance of artillery, and have made 
very elaborate preparations to protect the crossing. The im- 
portance of the movement and the details of the plan seem to 
be well understood by the grand division commanders, and we 
hope to succeed. 

If the general-in-chief desire it, I will send a minute 
statement by telegraph in cipher to-morrow morning. The 



ijisi PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 95 

movement is so importanf that I feel anxious to be fortified bv 

1^^^ '-iPP'-^val. A. E. BURNSIDE, 

Major-General commanding. 
To General Halleck, Washington, D. C. 

To this last clause of the dispatch General Halleck replied : 

War Department, 
Washington, D. C., Dec. lo, 1862. 
Major-General Buruside, Falmouth, Va.: I beg of you 
not to telegraph details of your plans-, nor the times of your 
intended movements. No secret can be kept which passes 
through so many hands. ^^ ^ Halleck, 

General-in-Chief. 

It was a sad commentary on the condition of army afifairs 
in and about Washington, which General Halleck's last dis- 
patch disclosed. There were so many rebels and their sympa- 
thizers, that it was literally true that no secrets, passing 
through official hands, could long be kept. But General Burn- 
side was disclosing to officials and to the rebels, and to the peo- 
ple, the plan of operations which would ultimately win, and he 
immediately adopted plans to use the army and hammer away 
upon the rebels in arms, and to keep on doing so until our su- 
perior strength should force a final surrender. Burnside's 
command from November 9th to January 26th, was the first 
chapter, and Meade and Grant took up the work, after Hook- 
er's lamentable failure, upon the same plan, and finished it. 
There was no more open interference by a general-in-chief at 
Washington, and no insubordination by army officers. But the 
Army of the Potomac, so often defeated by the defections of its 
officers, led by worthy leaders, fell upon Lee's rebel hordes, in 
season and out of season, through the sacrifice of priceless lives 
and unstinted treasures, from the Rappahannock to Appomat- 
tox. 

The ] oth of December was a busy day in the Army of the 
Potomac. The camps extended all the way from Aquia Creek 
to the upper fords of the Rappahannock. 

The country is broken by many hills and the campfires at 
night could be seen for many miles. The distance from the 
camps to the river was not great, and the fires of the enemy 
could also be seen from many points. It was apparent from the 
orders, that we were to be thrown upon Lee's forces at Freder- 
icksburg. 



96 HISTORY OF THE 

The cooking of rations and the distribution of extra quan- 
tities of ammunition — cartridge boxes and pockets full — left 
no doubt as to what this movement meant, and our prepara- 
tions and the prospects ahead were variously discussed, as was 
always the case, upon those interesting occasions just before a 
battle. 

Our camp was several miles from the river, and the 131st 
Regiment busied itself all that day in securing the extra am- 
munition and rations, and the necessary preparations for what 
we all believed to be a final march upon Richmond. The boys 
retired early, as a rule, on that crisp December night, and, al- 
though soldiers were not supposed to be given much to senti- 
ment, an observer would have detected, without effort, that the 
minds of the men were occupied with other thoughts than of 
ammunition and rations. Letters home, including every con- 
ceivable variety, from the tender missive to a sweetheart to that 
of the last will and testament of the misgiving soldier who 
quietly indulged in a presentiment that this would be his last 
battle. And it was remarkable how frequent were the occa- 
sions where company officers were made the confidants of the 
men who handled the guns in battle in such instances. I never 
knew of but one, however, where the premonition became real. 
It was that of Adjutant Noon, of the 133d Regiment. 

On the morning of the nth, just as the 131st was having 
roll call, a sharp report of a cannon w^as heard, and all instinct- 
ively accepted it as the signal gun for the advance. This was 
not the fact, however, for, as we subsequently learned, it was 
Lee's signal gun, announcing to his army that Burnside was 
crossing the Rappahannock. The morning light revealed great 
columns of blue, with the noisy batteries, and army wagons, 
from every direction, heading towards the river. Orders to fall 
in were not long withheld from the T3ist, and the cosy quarters 
of the men were literally thrown off, and in many instances set 
on fire, together with all the paraphernalia of household ac- 
cumulations which had been gathered. They were now in fight- 
ing trim, and they realized that the hour of their supreme need 
to the government which they were defending, had arrived, 
and they intended to do their whole duty. 

Our progress to the river was slow and irksome. The 
troops were being concentrated, en masse, in front of Freder- 
icksburg. The morning was cool and misty, and we could not 
see the city nor beyond, but we reached our position without 
incident, near the river where the Center Grand Division, under 




AI^BERT D. I^UNDY. 
First I,ieutenant Company I. 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 97 

Hooker, was massed^ with Sumner's Grand Division on our 
right and FrankHn's on the left. 

(leneral Hunt, ehief of artillery, had heen ordered to make 
the necessary disposition of the artillery to protect the con- 
struction of the pontoon bridges and to cover the passage of 
the army. The hills of the north bank of the river fully com- 
manded the city and the plains and the lower hills on the south 
side. The river is navigable from PVedericksburg to Chesa- 
peake, but is narrow. One hundred and forty-seven guns were 
placed in i:)osition. These, together with the batteries with the 
troops, rendered the army secure from any possible advance 
by Lee. 

The officer in charge of the pontoons, Lieutenant Com- 
stock, chief engineer, was ordered to throw two bridges over 
the river at the upper end of Fredericksburg, one at the lower 
end and two a mile below, making the distance between the ex- 
treme bridges nearly two miles. The heads of the bridge trains 
were to arrive at the bank of the river at 3 o'clock a. m.^ and 
the bridges were then to be finished as speedily as possible. All 
these bridges were commenced soon after 3 o'clock, each sup- 
ported by infantry, as well as by the guns mounted all along 
the northern banks. 

It is claimed for the signal corps of the Army of the Po- 
tomac, that it was the first to introduce on this continent, as a 
medium of communication upon the field of battle, the magnetic 
telegraph. As the army was concentrating upon the bridges 
the signal corps was busy moving their wires to all important 
centers. We remember them passing through our lines, rapidly 
unrolling their wire, and placing it upon light poles. The Phil- 
lips house, General Burnside's headquarters, was connected 
with the Lacy house, the large brick mansion on the river 
bank, near which was located the upper bridge. This was the 
bridge over which General Humphrey's Division passed. The 
Lacy house was occupied by General Sumner, as headquarters. 
The wires were also extended down the river to the lower 
bridge, where Franklin crossed, and with his headquarters. 
Thus lines were operated during the battle from general head- 
quarters to all important points upon the battlefiekl. and to the 
rear as far as IJelfe Plain. Flag signal stations were also main- 
tained, and during the battle several were opened in the steeples 
of the court house and churches in the city. These became the 
targets for the enemy, and they were driven from several 
places by the shell of the rebel guns. 



98 HISTORY OF THE 

Professor Lowe was taking observations from his great 
balloon, which was frequently sent np, securely controlled by 
ropes. Several efforts were made by the rebel cannoneers on 
the other side to get the range of the balloonist, but they failed. 

Thus, seemingly, every detail which a general command- 
ing covild provide for the advance of so great an army, had 
been made, and they ought to be sufficient answer to the flip- 
pant critics who have asserted that there was no plan of bat- 
tle. 

The south side of the river was held by Lee's army, ex- 
tending mainly from opposite Falmouth to the Massaponax, a 
small stream emptying into the Rappahannock below, a dis- 
tance of about five miles. The low ground on which 
Fredericksburg stands, narrows to a point on the river about 
a mile above and widens to several miles below. There are ir- 
regular hills in the rear of the plain, making an angle below the 
city, where the plain widens in a line with the small streams 
flowing into the Rappahannock. There was ample room for a 
flank movement, either upon the plank road leading south 
through the city, or the Bowling Green road, skirting the hills 
eastwardly from the city and turning southward below the city. 
Lee's position on the hills was lower than the north bank of the 
river and too remote to prevent a successful crossing. Burn- 
side's guns commanded the city and the plains beyond, and this 
made it impossible for Lee's army to assume the offensive, after 
he repulsed the attack of the Army of the Potomac. 

It seems almost incredible that it was a third of a century 
ago when the men of the 131st marched down to the river the 
morning of December nth, 1862. We did not then know what 
1 have detailed of the position of our army. We saw the great 
lines concentrating and heard the tumult of battle, and anx- 
iously looked forward to our part in the contest. When we 
were near the Phillips house we saw a line of staff officers and 
orderlies coming and going as fast as their steeds could bear 
them, bringing reportsand bearing the^orders of the commander 
to the front. But there is nowhere in the science of warfare 
any provision for informing the rank and file of what is going 
on, or what they were to do. The opposite theory prevails. The 
nearer a private soldier approximates a machine the better. That 
is, he must simply obey orders. It is doubtless founded in wis- 
dom, but at the same time the American volunteer armies were 
not the basis upon which the theory was constructed. Much 
may be done, in the way of discipline, with men who are soldiers 
by profession, that may not, and ought not, be attempted upon 



1 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 99 

such a body of men as comprised the great volunteer armies 
who fought and won the battles for the American Urtion. 

We, that is, our division, did not cross the river vmtil Satur- 
day afternoon. Those three days — Thursday, Friday and 
Saturday — were days of great anxiety. The weather was cold ; 
we could have no fires ; we were subsisting from 
our haversacks ; we were required to keep close to our 
files and sleep upon our arms ; but what was going on in front 
we could not know. The roar of battle had been heard, and the 
steeples of the near-by fated city could now and then be seen, 
and the many-tongued rumors gave zest to the situation when 
other events failed. A few men here and there were taken ill and 
compelled to go to the rear. Private George W. Lashells vyas 
very sick, but he refused to fall out. I had provided myself 
with blank orders to leave the ranks on account of sickness. I 
offered one of these to him, having filled the blank with his 
name, company and regiment. This was to save any worthy sol- 
dier from the risks to which he was exposed by contact with the 
rear guard, who had great difficulty in discriminating on ac- 
count of such as made it a convenient thing to become sudden- 
ly ill just on the eve of a battle. George had been ill a few days 
previous and I had advised him not to march, but he could not 
be persuaded to remain behind. He soon recovered and felt 
able to go on. There was no apparent excitement anywhere 
noticeable, but the men kept close to the ranks and displayed a 
discipline founded upon a personal interest in citizenship, which 
distinguished these American armies, and made them far su- 
perior to any large armies ever before known. 

We subsequently learned what delayed the army so long. 
The engineers were delayed in putting down the bridges. It 
was confidently expected that these would cause no delay. A 
pontoon bridge, 400 feet in length, can be constructed in an hour, 
or less. But the great mass of material necessary could not be 
placed exactly where needed, and caused some delay, and the 
rebels were numerously secreted on the other side and stubborn- 
ly resisted every attempt of the working men, who failed to get 
the bridges down before daylight on Thursday morning, as 
General Burnside expected they would. It was upon these men 
being discovered that the rebel signal gun was fired, which we 
heard that morning. It was the upper bridges which caused 
the delay. After daylight the rebels kept up a constant fire and 
drove the pontooners away. Volunteers were called upon to 
assist, but men could not be held to the work, and were fired 
upon without the means of defense. The delay was seriously 



100 HISTORY OF THE 

affecting the plan of attack, and General Hunt, the chief of ar- 
tillery, was directed to shell the city, and drive the rebels out. 
This was the noise of battle which we heard. 
All the guns along the north bank hurled shot and 
shell into the city. It fairly shook the earth 
but it did not entirely clear the city of the enemy. Close to the 
banks, in houses and behind temporary defences, sharpshooters 
stood to their work, and as the attempt was made to renew 
bridge building they renewed their work of death. The great 
guns drove the enemy mainly and set the city on fire and shat- 
tered, more or less, nearly every house, but they failed to reach 
the low places which concealed the sharpshooters. General 
Hunt then suggested calling for soldiers and placing them in 
the pontoon boats to row over and drive out or capture them. 
Hall's Brigade was on the river banks and 120 men from the 
Seventh Michigan, together with the Nineteenth Massachusetts, 
were sent to this work, which was successful. The rebels were 
in cellars and several earthworks not previously seen, but they 
were killed, captured or driven away. The Twentieth Massa- 
chusetts also followed in boats and assisted in the completion of 
the bridge. It was nearly night, but the advance of Sumner's 
Grand Division, under General Howard, had gained a firm hold 
in the city after some severe fighting in the streets of the town. 

The bridges below were completed without serious ob- 
struction, except as decayed by the ice and bad roads, andTrank- 
lin's Left Grand Division began crossing at 11 o'clock in the 
morning. There was no shelter for the rebels and our guns 
completely commanded the low grounds and the plain beyond. 

General Lee, in his report, says the citizens of Fredericks- 
burg, very patriotically abandoned their homes and encamped 
in the rear of his army; but Burnside's guns more likely ad- 
monished them, and they, nor General Lee's army could pre- 
vent our forces from occupying their city. The dense fog of 
these winter mornings, and the cold nights and cheerless tents 
were not voluntarily chosen in exchange for comfortable homes 
by the people of Fredericksburg, but it was a handsome compli- 
ment. 

Whilst this critical preparatory work for crossing was go- 
ing on the army was slowly and steadily closing upon the river 
banks, and those who occupied the hill-tops occasionally had a 
clear view of the south side — the city and the rebel camps be- 
yond. The mist of those cool December mornings, however, 
obscured everything until late in the day. The expectation that 
the artillery would enable the bridge builders to carry on their 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 101 

work was not realized, owing, mainly, to the fact that the mist 
entirely hid from view the rebel infantry secreted on the op- 
posite banks. It was nothing to Lee that they would bring 
down destruction upon their city, so long as by their acts they 
could delay the crossing long enough to enable Hill's troops to 
return from the lower Rappahannack, and to concentrate all his 
army for the defense. This delay, from Thursday morning 
until Saturday morning, rendered the assault more hazardous, 
yet it was not the principal cause of the failure. The want of 
faithful co-operation with the commander-in-chief by the grand 
division commanders of the infantry, was manifesting itself. It 
was General Hunt, the chief of artillery, who finally called upon 
the infantry and succeeded in effecting the crossing at the up- 
per bridges, where the right and centre grand divisions were 
to cross. After the general orders which General Burnside is- 
sued, copies of which had been sent to Washington, and the 
great army was massed on the river bank, it would seem plain, 
even to one not skilled in military science, what was the duty of 
Generals Franklin, Hooker and Sumner, who directly com- 
manded the men. The delays which were seemingly unavoid- 
able, now made it clear to General Burnside that the only hope 
of success was to break Lee's lines and divide his army. If he 
could succeed, he would press upon and crush them in detail. 
To this end all his orders now centered. He gave Franklin 
60,000 men. He expected him to crush Jackson's line, and 
Sumner, with the right grand division, would then be enabled 
to advance, as Lee would be obliged to place his troops for the 
defense of his broken lines on his right. Sumner had his own 
grand division and a part of Hooker's, also, nearly 60,000 men. 
In the light of these facts, how inexcusable seem the criticisms 
of General Burnside's plan and the unwarranted charge that he 
had no plan. 

On the other side of the river General Lee's army was sta- 
tioned in the following order : General Longstreet commanded 
the left wing, his divisions resting on the river above Falmouth, 
where Anderson commanded, and upon his right were McLaws, 
Pickett and Hood, in the order named. Ransom's Division sup- 
ported the batteries on Marye's Heights and the hills southward, 
at the foot of which Cobb's Brigade and a part of Ransom's 
were in the sunken roads protected by stone walls. The cele- 
brated Washington artillery, of New Orleans, under Colonel 
Walton, occupied the redouljts on the crest of Marye's Hill, and 
then on his right and left were held by part of the reserve ar- 
tillery. Colonel Alexander's battalion, and the division batteries. 



102 HISTORY OF THE 

"Stonewall" Jackson commanded the right wing. Gen. A. P. 
Hill was posted between Hood and Hamilton's crossing on the 
railroad. His front line, consisting of the brigades of Pon- 
der, Lane and Archer, occupied the edge of the wood. Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Walker, with fourteen pieces of artillery, was 
posted near the right, supported by Field's Brigade, with Hill's 
reserves in the rear. Early's and Taliaferro's Divisions com- 
posed Jackson's second line, with D. H. Hill's Division in re- 
serve. General .Stuart, with two brigades of cavalry, and Pel- 
ham's, occupied the plain on Jackson's right extending to the 
Massaponox. 

General Burnside now issued final orders to each of the 
three grand division commanders : 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 

A/r n T7 AT c Dec. II, 1862, 4.20 a. m. 

Maj.-Gen. E. V. Sumner: 

In addition to the verbal orders already given you, I will 
add the following : 

Your First Corps, after crossing, should be protected by 
the town and the banks of the river as much as possible until 
the Second Corps is well closed up and in the act of crossing; 
after which you will move the First Corps directly to the front, 
with a view to taking the heights that command the plank road 
and the telegraph road, supporting it by your other corps as soon 
as you can get it over the river. General Hooker will immediate- 
ly follow in your support, and will see that your right flank is 
not troubled. 

General Franklin crosses below, as you are aware, thus 
protecting your left. The extent of your movement to the 
front will be indicated during the engagement. Please in- 
form me if you propose to arrange your headc[uarters before 
the head of the column reaches the river, that I may send you 
guides for the roads. I send one with this. If you desire fur- 
ther instructions please send word by the orderly. 

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient 

servant. . ^ ^ 

A. E. Burnside, 

Major-General Commanding. 

Maj.-Gen. Joseph Hooker : 4 45 a. m. 

General Sumner is ordered, after crossing the river, to 
move immediately to the front, with a view to taking the height 
commanding the plank roads. After crossing, you will hold 
yourself in readiness to support either his column or General 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 103 

Franklin's, which crosses helow Deep Run, and will move down 
the old Richmond road in the direction of the railroad. Should 
we be so fortunate as to dislodge the enemy, you will hold your 
command in readiness to pursue by the two roads. 

My headquarters will be at the Phillips house, where, if 
you will send an aid at 8 o'clock, guides will be furnished you 
to lead 3'our column. I will be glad to see you at headquarters 
before the head of your column reaches the river. 

I have the honor to be, &c., 

A. E. BURNSIDE^ 

Major-General Commanding. 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 

Dec. II, 1862, 5 :i5 a. m. 
Major-General Franklin : 

General Sumner will, after crossing the river, move imme- 
diately to the front, with a view to taking the heights which 
command the plank and telegraph roads. 1 have ordered Gen- 
eral Hooker to hold himself in readiness, as soon as he has 
crossed the river, to support either General Sumner's column 
or your own. After yovir command has crossed, you will move 
down the old Richmond road, in the direction of the railroad, 
being governed by circumstances as to the extent of your move- 
ments. An aide will be sent to you during your movements. 
My headquarters will be at the Phillips house. 

I have the honor to be, &c., 

A. E. BURNSIDE, 

Major-General of Volunteers. 

The topography of the south side of the Rappahannock at 
Fredericksburg is such as to make it possible for an army to 
approach the city from the north and occupy it, as the hills of 
the north bank of the river completely command the city and 
the lower hills in the rear. This made it quite possible for Gen- 
eral Burnside to concentrate his army there and cross the river 
more readily than above or below, unless these other points 
could be reached unopposed. It was on this account the plan 
of crossing below at Skinker's Neck was changed, as Hill's 
troops, of Jackson's Corps, supported by artillery and cavalry, 
were there. Subsequent events proved that it was quite as fa- 
vorable a point of attack as the upper fords, as Lee's army was, 
in all cases, the power to be met and overcome. 

The nth was a day of increasing interest to the boys of 



104 HISTORY OF THE 

the regiment, who were bhssfully ignorant of what was trans- 
piring in the front, and of that battle between our generals, but 
none doubted the character of the work which we would be 
called upon to do. The mist of the morning was dense, but the 
smoke of the 150 cannon and the burning of the houses in the 
city had completely enveloped the armies and the city until 
the afternoon, when the bridges were completed, and Franklin's 
on our left and Sumner's troops in our front began to cross. At 
the lower bridge only one man was wounded and two taken 
prisoners, but at the upper bridges, one officer. Captain Per- 
kins, and six privates were killed, and two officers and forty- 
one privates were wounded. After Hall's Brigade had opened 
the way the Forty-second and Fifty-ninth New York and 127th 
Pennsylvania were the first to cross the upper bridge, and they 
gallantly cleared the streets and secured a firm hold of the city. 
The movements were retarded much on account of the inabil- 
ity of the signal corps to direct, but we knew that our troops 
now occupied the city and we continued our waiting and slept 
upon our arms. 

The 1 2th— Friday — we kept closing up as the troops in 
advance crossed the bridges and that night bivouacked near the 
Lacey house on the river banks, all the troops of the right and 
left wings having crossed over and secured advanced lines on 
the outer edges of the city, and close upon the rebel lines on the 
plain below. 

At the upper bridges 104 cannon accompanied the infantry 
and eighty-six at the lower bridges. 

Cavalry above and below the city made reconnaissances 
and fully developed the lines held by the enemy. 

General Burnside now turned to his lieutenants and, with 
his magnificent army, and the three "fighting generals," Sum- 
ner, Hooker and Franklin, he had a right to hope to break the 
rebel right, to quickly sieze any advantage gained and press on 
to the rebel Capital. His orders were in harmony with his 
movements, and both said so clearly that to-morrow we will fall 
upon the enemy with our left wing and pierce his lines, to be 
closely supported by a portion of the center, and aided by a 
simultaneous attack upon the right by Sumner, supported by 
the remaining troops of the center. Burnside had the men and 
superior equippment to fully ofifset the advantage of position 
held by Lee ; and every loyal heart in the great North, as well 
as every soldier in the ranks of that army, were confidently look- 
ing for a crowning victory. 

The evening of the 12th found our army holding a line 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 105 

thus : The Second Corps held the center and right of the town ; 
the Ninth Corps was on the left of the Second Corps and con- 
necting with General Franklin's right, at Deep Run ; the Sixth 
Corps was on the left of the Ninth, nearly parallel with the old 
Richmond road, and the First Corps on the left of the Sixth, 
its left resting on the river. General Hooker's Grand Division 
— Third and Fifth Corps, except Birney's — and Sickles' Divi- 
sion of the Third sent to Franklin, on the left, were on the river 
bank, ready to support either Franklin or Sumner. 

General Palfrey, in his "Antietam and Fredericksburg," 
goes far out of his way to represent General Burnside as "rid- 
ing about, not quite at his wit's end, but very near it. As far 
as can be made out, he finally came to the conclusion that he 
would attempt to do something, he did not quite know what, 
with his left, and if he succeeded, to do something with his 
right." He was writing from the cue given by the enemies of 
Burnside, tainted with that spirit of insubordination which had 
up to this time defeated almost every effort, but which was 
finally rendered impossible when Meade and Grant together led 
the Army of the Potomac to victory. 

Burnside's former orders, when he first took command, 
were clear, and his movements astonishingly prompt. The 
grand division commanders seem to have understood his orders 
to cross the river and attack the enemy, and take position for 
battle, although they were extremely slow in the execution of 
them. The orders for the final attack do not seem to be out of 
the ordinary, and when, on the night of that eventful Decem- 
ber day, Burnside was cruelly stigmatized as "at his wit's end" 
he states very clearly what he was doing and gives intelligible 
reasons for the orders which followed. He sa3's : 

"By the night of the T2th the troops were all in position, 
and I visited the different commands with a view to determin- 
ing as to future movements. The delay in laying the bridges 
had rendered some change in the plan of attack necessary, and 
the orders previously issued were to be superseded by new 
ones. Tt was after midnight when I returned and before day- 
light I i)repared and issued the following orders :" 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac. 
Dec. 13, 1862, 6 a. m. 
Maj.-Gen. E. V. Sumner, 

Commanding Right Grand Division : 
The general commanding directs that you extend the left 
of your command to Deep Run, connecting with General 



106 HISTORY OF THE 

Franklin, extending your right as far as your judgment may 
dictate. He also directs that you push a column of a division 
or more, along the plank and telegraph roads, with a view to 
seizing the heights in the rear of the town. The latter move- 
ment should he well covered by skirmishers, and supported so 
as to keep its line of retreat open. Copy of instructions given 
to General Franklin will be sent to you very soon. You will 
please wait them at your present headc[uarters where he (the 
general commanding) will meet you. Great care must be taken 
to prevent collision of your own forces during the fog. The 
watchword for the day will be "Scott." The column for a 
movement up the telegraph and plank roads will be got in readi- 
ness to move, but will not move till the general commanding 
communicates with you. 

I have the honor to be, &c., 

John G. Parke, 
Chief of Staff. 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac. 
Dec. 13, 1862, 7 a. m. 
Maj.-Gen. Joseph Hooker, 

Commander Center Grand Division : 
The general commanding directs that you place General 
Butterfield's (Fifth) Corps and Whipple's Division in position 
to cross at a moment's notice, at the three upper bridges, to sup- 
port the other troops over the river, and the two remaining di- 
visions of Stoneman's Corps in readiness to cross at the lower 
crossing, in support of General Franklin. The general com- 
manding will meet you at headquarters (Phillips house) very 
soon. Copies of instructions to General Sumner and General 
Franklin will be sent to you. 

I have the honor to be, &c., 
John G. Parke, 
Chief of Staff. ' 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac. 
Dec. 13, 5:55 a. m. 
Major-General Franklin, 

Commander Left Grand Division : 
General Hardie will carry this dispatch to you, and remain 
with you during the day. The general commanding directs 
that you keep your whole command in position for a rapid 
movement down the old Richmond road, and you will send out 
at once a division at least, to pass below Smithfield and seize, 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 107 

if possible, the heights near Hamiltons, on this side of the Man- 
aponox, taking care to keep it well supported, and its lines of re- 
treat open. He has ordered another column, of a division or 
more, to be moved from General Sumner's command up the 
plank road to its intersection with the telegraph road, where 
they will divide, with a view of seizing the heights on both sides 
of those roads. Holding these heights, with the heights near 
Hamiltons will, he hopes, compel the enemy to evacuate the 
entire ridge between those points. I make these moves by col- 
umns distant from each other with a view of avoiding the pos- 
sibility of a collision of our own forces, which might occur in 
a general movement during the fog. Two of General Hook- 
er's divisions are in your rear, at the bridge, and will remain 
there as supports. Copies of instructions given to Generals 
Sumner and Hooker will be forwarded to you by an orderly 
very soon. You will keep your whole command ready to move 
at once, as soon as the fog lifts. The watchword, which, if pos- 
sible, should be given to ever}^ company, will be "Scott." 

I have the honor to be, &c., 

John G. Parke, 
Chief of Staff. 

These orders directed General Franklin to move at once 
and seize, if possible, the key to the enemy's position, near 
Hamiltons, and to keep this column well supported, and his 
whole command in readiness to move. The object of this order 
could not be stated more clearly. It was to seize these heights 
and to do it at once. General Sumner was ordered to be ready, 
but not to move, until further orders. This was manifestly not 
to be done until General Franklin succeeded, then the whole 
army was intended to co-operate to defeat Lee. The fact that 
General Meade, of Franklin's Grand Division, who opened the 
battle, and succeeded in securing the point desired by Burnside, 
is proof of the practicability of the order of battle, and more, 
that it was the fault of his lieutenants who failed to properly 
support the advance made, whereby all was lost. The entire 
Army of the Potomac was so disposed as to make a rapid 
movement upon Richmond, but in the event of failure, under 
the protection of our superior guns, on the commanding posi- 
tion on the north bank of the river, it could at any time safely 
retire. 

The morning of the 13th — Saturday — was cold and frosty 
and soon a dense fog and the smoke of battle and the burning 
city obscured everything. The advantages and disadvantages 



108 HISTORY OF THE 

of this condition, if there had been earnest co-operation among 
the Union officers as there was in the rebel army, might, upon 
the whole, have been in favor of the assaulting party; but, as 
it turned out, it only added to the many other events which 
were delaying action, and taking us farther from the conditions 
of success, so fully and clearly pointed out from the beginning, 
which required a rapid movement. 

Before daylight, we who were in bivouack on the north 
bank, were aroused by the noise of battle. It was all along the 
lines of both armies, by artillery and musketry occasioned by 
our near approach, preparatory to the assault which was to be 
made. Early in the morning General Meade was called to Gen- 
eral Franklin's headquarters, accompanied by General Rey- 
nolds, commanding the First Corps, when he was informed that 
his division had been selected to make the attack, and the point 
was indicated. General Reynolds was directed to place his two 
other divisions in support. The division selected was the old 
Pennsylvania Reserves, including also the I42d Pennsylvania. 
It was at this moment that the grand division commanders, 
whose commands had been enlarged with a view to aid the 
commander of the Army of the Potomac, might have been 
described as "at their wits end" by an invidious critic, but these 
generals were hostile to the plan of battle and did not believe 
it could succeed, and, how^ever sincere, it was no time for di- 
vision and strife, and every consideration of right and patriot- 
ism ought to have appealed to them for the most prompt and 
effective effort by co-operation and encouragement. The river 
had been successfully crossed. Delays had occurred and but 
one hope remained to the gallant and intrepid commander — that 
a weak spot might be found on the enemy's left. If so, all 
might yet be well. If not, his artillery controlled the city and 
the plains and he could at any time safely return. He would 
make the attempt. 

General Meade was possibly the best general in the Army 
of the Potomac that day, and he had some of the best soldiers 
to engage in the hazardous work which had been assigned to 
him. They numbered less than 5,000 men. The First and 
Third Brigades were formed in a column, supported by the Sec- 
ond. The rebels in their front and the Union army touching 
elbows in line with them, 200,000 armed men, with artillery and 
cavalry, were breathlessly awaiting the onslaught. Let us now 
briefly trace the fighting. 

During the night the final arrangements for the battle 
were completed — a sleepless night for General Burnside. Gen- 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 109 

eral Franklin was ordered to seize, if possiljle, the heig-hts in 
front, and to send a column at once, of a division at least, in the 
lead, to be well supported, and to keep his whole command in 
readiness to follow. At the same time General Sumner was to 
be in readiness to carry the heights commanding the telegraph 
and plank roads — this assault to be made whenever it appeared 
possible for Franklin to succeed. Burnside sends a staff officer 
to be with Franklin. At 8.30 General Franklin directs General 
Reynolds,of the iMrst Corps, to send General Meade's Third Di- 
vision to make the attack. General Reynolds places General Dou- 
bleday's First Division on his left and Gibbon's Second Division 
on the right. Meade places his column of three brigades in 
line, the first commanded by Colonel Sinclair, closely supported 
by the Third, commanded by Colonel Jackson, and the Second 
Brigade commanded by Colonel Magilton, was in line of battle 
200 paces in the rear. Four batteries of four guns each, be- 
longed to the division. The rebel batteries open on Meade. 
General Franklin fears an attack on his left and holds his col- 
umn, but Meade's men are pressing forward and gain ground 
steadily. At 9 40 Burnside is informed by his staff officer that 
Meade is halted. At 10:30 Burnside sends another staff officer 
to Franklin, who is urged to advance. ' At 11 o'clock Meade 
had gained a half mile, and General Stoneman, of the Third 
Corps, is directed to send Birney's Division across the river in 
support, but does not get into position until noon. Burnside 
complains that the Sixth Corps was not advanced, and urged 
that Franklin should send in his right and front. General 
Meade's column is fighting vigorously and the enemy's batter- 
ies open on him all along the line ; Reynolds' and Smiths' 
batteries open on them and for two hours the artillery fire is 
maintained, when many of the enemy's batteries are silenced. 
General Smith subsequently testified that many of them could 
have been captured at this time. At 1:15 Meade is assaulting 
the hill and the men are in splendid spirits. At i 40 300 pris- 
oners are sent back. Gibbon has advanced on the right, but 
Doubleday is not engaged. Meade is advancing and is assaulted 
on the right and left flanks. His regiments change direction 
under severe fire of the enemy and protect their flanks. Gen- 
eral Meade sends his staff officers for aid, but his one brigade 
is held at the railroad and Gibbon does not advance. Meade's 
two brigades gain the woods and the crest, and the rebels flee 
in confusion. Colonel Sinclair is wounded. Our victorious 
troops of the First and Third Brigades got among the reserves 
of Stonewall Jackson, where they find rows of stacked arms 
of regiments which had been driven awav. The rebel general. 



110 HISTORY OF THE 

Gregg, was killed. Archer and Lane had been routed, and 
the key to Lee's position was held by the Pennsylvanians. This 
had been accomplished by heroic fighting and skilled general- 
ship, aided by our superior artillery. Gen. Stonewall Jackson, 
in his report of the battle, stated that this attack, which sur- 
prised Gregg, flanked Archer and created such confusion, "was 
made by the main body of General Franklin's Grand Division, 
assisted by part of Hooker's Grand Division." The rebel gen- 
eral. Archer, says, "it was the cry, 'the enemy is in our rear,' 
which caused his men to retire in disorder." Ewell's Division 
had just arrived and were said to be weary, having marched 
eighteen miles to get there. D. H. Hill, who had also been 
down the river, was fifteen miles away the day before. These 
circumstances, together with the success of Meade, must be 
held as justifying the hope which moved General Burnside in 
his final plans for the battle. 

General Meade was conscious of the danger to his gallant 
troops and earnestly appealed for support. The enemy were 
returning to the attack and our exhausted men were firing their 
last cartridges. They kept up a defense by ammunition gath- 
ered from their dead comrades. More than 50,000 comrades 
were lying upon their arms close in the rear, in full sight of the 
struggle. General Meade is in the thickest of the fray. 
Two bullets passed through the top of his old slouch hat. He 
returns to General Birney, not of his corps, and orders him to 
the support, who willingly responds by sending two regiments. 
But the delay is fatal. The weakness of our advance has been 
discovered, and the rebels return to assault them. Without 
ammunition and without a hope left Meade's column is driven 
back. The rebels fell in overwhelming numbers upon Gibbon, 
who is wounded. General Jackson, who so valiantly led the 
Third Brigade, is killed and more men are lost than in the 
advance. Stoneman's Corps — Birney and Sickles — aids Rey- 
nolds, and at 3 o'clock they are holding the line. General Bay- 
ard is killed near the headquarters of General Franklin. Our 
artillery silences their batteries and their advanced column is 
repulsed with severe loss and many prisoners. Our great guns 
on the north side of the river enfiladed them and together with 
our columns of fresh troops could easily repulse any advance. 
This position was maintained with more or less fighting all 
along the line, until darkness put an end to the conflict. 

On the right, pursuant to the orders of General Burnside, 
General Sumner, at 8.30, ordered General Couch, of the Second 
Corps, to be in readiness to assault the heights commanding the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. Ill 

telegraph and plank roads, in the rear of the city. This was to 
be done in cohimns of a division, advancing in three Hnes by 
brigade, 200 yards between cohmins, with a division in support. 
The troops of Sumner's Grand Division — Second and Ninth 
Corps — were in the streets of the city, except Burns' Division 
of the Ninth Corps, which was with Franklin. Hooker's 
Grand Division was divided. Birney's and Sickles' Divisions 
of the Third Corps were with Franklin, and Whipple's Division 
was posted on the right of the city. The Fifth Corps, General 
Butterfield, was on the north side upon the river bank. These 
troops numbered nearly 60,000 men. 

At II o'clock, just after General Burnside had sent a staff 
officer to Franklin directing him to advance the whole line, he 
also directed General Sumner to begin his attack upon the 
heights. The plank road leads from the city to the west of the 
heights and the telegraph road thus far parallel with the plank 
road, to the foot of the heights, where it turns east and south, 
to the sunken road, with stone walls on either side. Just in the 
rear of this point, on the crest of the hill, stands Mayea house, 
a large brick mansion, which was near the centre of the point of 
attack. A little further to our left is the unfinished railroad, 
and then Hazel Run, all nearly parallel with the telegraph and 
plank roads from the city to the hills. From the river, through 
the city to the foot of the heights, it is probably less than a mile, 
and about the same distance from the plank road to Hazel Run. 
Upon this ground all the fighting of the right took place, ex- 
cept by the artillery on the north bank of the river, which exr 
tended from Falmouth to the extremity of Franklin's lines, 
probably three miles. Our right and left met at Deep Run. 
The Fredericksburg and Richmond railroad and the Old Rich- 
mond or Bowling Green road passed out of the southwestern 
corner of the city, by the railroad station, east and southward, 
almost in a line corresponding to the line of hills occupied by 
the rebels, except on their extreme right, where the road passes 
through their lines southward. Thus our lines of battle were 
only about half as long as Lee's, which extended from opposite 
Falmouth to the Manaponox and the Rappahannock below 
Fredericksburg. 

General Couch issued his orders as directed by General 
Sumner, and ordered h^rench's Division to make the assault. 
There is a race or canal just outside the city, parallel with the 
river. The rebels, in retreating, tore the planks ofif the bridges, 
which greatly retarded the progress of the troops. There were 
no pioneers to repair roads or remove obstructions. All the 



112 HISTORY OF THE 

troops passed out either on the right or on the left 
of the battle ground, marching by the flank, and then 
forming into line of battle by the right or by the left, 
on the low grounds. From there to the sunken road, or stone 
wall, the ground rises in a gentle slope, broken here and there 
by smaller hills and ravines. Near the centre is a large brick 
house, and on the road extending along our right, or the upper 
side on both sides of the road, is a cluster of houses extending 
nearly to the rebel stronghold, and nearer to the city, on the 
right side of the road, is a large tannery. In the front, on the 
sunken road, are a few houses, in one of which the rebel gener- 
al, Cobb, was killed. The battle ground mainly consisted of 
fields and town lots^ with numerous board and other fences, 
which proved a great obstruction to the charging columns. 

The poinfofattack was probably the enemy's strongest posi- 
tion. The sunken road was the best possible protection. This 
was closely supported by troops in field works along the slope 
of the heights, and by troops massed on the top, protected by 
earthworks. The grounds were also directly defended by the 
famous New Orleans Washington Artillery. 

We were also enfiladed by the enemy's guns from many 
other points of their lines. Just why this particular point of 
attack was selected does not appear. General Burnside direct- 
ed that the heights should be carried, but on the right and left 
were better approaches. General Sumner ordered the attack by 
divisions, in three lines, but his headquarters were at the Lacey 
house on the opposite side of the river, and he did not see the 
battlefield. General Couch had not been on the ground and 
did not see the field until French and Hancock had fought and 
were repulsed. Then he and General Howard went to the 
steeple of the court house. They were shocked. The troops 
were mixed up and they declared they never saw such fighting, 
nothing ever before approached it in uproar and destruction. 
One brigade after another went up in succession, would do their 
duty well and melt away. He said the assault must be made 
from the right and thus flank their stronghold. But, just then 
French and Hancock fear an advance by the enemy and call 
for support, and Howard's Division is relieved by Whipple's 
Division which charges over the same ground, with the same re- 
sult, as French and Hancock had done. General Sturgis, of 
Wilcox's Ninth Corps, sends the brigades of Ferrero and Nagle. 
They made the same gallant fight, were met by the same secret- 
ed enem.y and fared as did their comrades. It was a fearful mis- 
take not to flank the stone wall, for there was not the remotest 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 113 

possibility of the enemy advancing — and thus reversing the ad- 
vantage of position. 

General Bnrnside now, at about 2 o'clock, directed that 
Hooker should "put in everything" and carry the heights. 
This was at the same time he had ordered Franklin to "advance 
his whole line." General Hooker ranked General Couch, who 
must have felt that there was need of a general to execute as 
well as one to command, for he said, "Hooker's coming was like 
the breaking out of the sun in a storm." The centre grand di- 
vision is hurried across the river at the two bridges, at the Lacey 
house and by the steamboat landing below. Couch tells Hooker 
to see Hancock. Hooker has no hope that the heights can be 
carried, and returns across the river to see General Burnside, 
and is absent for two hours. The only attempt the enemy made 
to advance was at this time, about 3 o'clock ; but the leader was 
killed and the column was quickly dispersed. General Hooker 
now returned with orders to carry the heights at all hazards. 
General Griffin's Division is sent to support General Sturgis', 
and Generals Humphrey and Sykes, with their divisions, are 
sent to Couch. At this time, upon the return of General Hooker, 
General Caldwell, of Hancock's Division, sent word that the 
rebels were retreating. General Couch turned to General Hum- 
phrey and said : "General Hancock says the enemy is retreat- 
ing ; now is your time to go in." Humphrey, he said, "fairly 
sprang to the work, like the gallant hero he was." 

The T3ist Regiment was the first of Allabach's Brigade. 
Colonel Clark's 123d was the second; Colonel Speakmen's 133d 
was the third, and Colonel Allen's 155th was the fourth. Let 
us retrace our movements from our last formation on the north 
bank of the river. It was about 2 o'clock when Hooker's Fifth 
Corps was ordered over the river in haste, to use the three up- 
per bridges. It was at the same time Franklin on our left and 
Sumner on the right were directed to advance their whole 
lines and Hooker was "to put in everything." The Fifth Corps 
was to support Couch. General Humphrey's Division crossed 
by the Lacey house bridge. Whilst waiting to get on the 
bridge, General Burnside made his way through the massed 
troops and passed through the regiment's lines. "You need not 
crowd, boys, there is plenty to do over there," he said, as the 
boys were jostled against his horse, and several of the men 
made replies to the commander's pleasantry. Private Henry 
Stees was nearest to him and looking up into his face he re- 
plied, "We are ready for the work. General." The rebel bat- 
teries on the other side now began to shell our moving column 



114 HISTORY OF THE 

as they passed upon the bridge. As our regiment passed down 
the ravine to the river bank several of these disagreeable mis- 
siles came most uncomfortably close to our ranks. A large 
excavation on the left of the road served as a "bomb proof" for 
a number of drummer boys, and other non-combatants, where 
the shells passed harmlessly over them. The city and the rebel 
lines were enveloped in the dark and sulphurous smoke of the 
battle, and we only now and then got glimpses of the steeples 
and the heights, but the murderous batteries, from both sides of 
the river, and the constantly repeated roar of the musketry of 
the infantry along the front fell omniously upon our ears as we 
slowly passed into columns leading upon the bridge, which kept 
rocking and swinging to the tread of the soldiers. Now and 
then a waiting band would strike up a tune and cheer the boys 
with "Bully for You," or "Dixie," so that the roar of battle and 
the explosion of shells w^ould make the occasion "not too 
sombre nor too gay." As we reached the other side we noticed 
the newly-made graves of the gallant but lost comrades who 
gave their lives in placing the pontoons and driving the rebels 
out of the city, several days before. The smouldering ruins of 
houses and the debris of the battle in the streets and the terri- 
ble artillery storm which raked the poor city were in abundant 
evidence, and the storm was still on. The troops were much 
retarded in their progress on acccount of the delay in clearing 
the way in the streets of the city, where so many troops were 
massed. We turned to the left down the street next to the river, 
marching by the flank, and two and three regiments abreast. 
The rebel batteries at Mayre's Heights, and those near to the 
enemy's left, had the range of the streets running to the river, 
and they were playing upon the city, between intervals of the at- 
tacks, which the Second and Ninth Corps were making "in 
columns by brigades" at the front, so that our crossings of the 
streets were usually made with a rush. The upper bridge was 
quite up toward the upper end of the city and our columns were 
thus made to run those gauntlets as we advanced along the river. 
Whilst the head of the column of Allabach's Brigade was thus 
waiting to rush across one of the streets a shell, which did not 
keep in line, but came down over the tops of the houses, made a 
terrible racket, knocking off the gable end of the brick house, 
under which we were sheltered, striking on the river bank and 
exploded among some officers' horses, killing several of them 
and wounding some men. It took off a large branch of a tree 
which fell at our feet, immediately in front of the 131st and 133d 
Regiments, marching side by side. It was then I met Adjutant 
Noon, of the 133d, who related to me the incident of his pre- 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 115 

sentiment which he had Ijefore the battle. He was prostrated 
bv the shock of the exploding shell and the falling tree and 
chimneys, and I thought he was wounded, I 1:)ent down to 
speak to him, but he quickly and bravely recovered and told me 
he was not struck, but he was all unnerved. He then related 
to me how he felt that he would be killed, and he could not help 
being all unstrung, but he would not hear to falling out, which 
I advised him to do. He said he could march and he would 
perform his duty. I learned subsequently that he had been so 
impressed that before the advance he wrote letters home, giv- 
ing some directions in view of his being killed in the approach- 
ing battle, and that he had freely spoken to a few of his confi- 
dential friends of his presentiment. He had scarcely got upon 
the battlefield when he was struck by a bullet in the head, kill- 
ing him instantly, just as he was most gallantly aiding in lead- 
ing his regiment in the charge upon the stone wall at the foot 
of jNIarye's Heights. 

Whilst our division was waiting in the city it seems that 
Allabach's Brigade was nearest the street which led out to the 
front, when General Couch called on General Humphrey to sup- 
port the troops of the Second Corps. The second — our brigade 
— was therefore ordered in front and we passed out of the 
city left in front, I think through Hanover street, over the race 
bridge which had the planks torn off, where we filed to the 
left, and deployed in line of battle, in full view of the enemy, 
and under an increased storm of shot and shell. Here we 
faced to the right, thus placing us again on the right of the line. 
The First Brigade, General Tyler's, soon followed, after we had 
advanced, and were massed on the right of the road near the 
tannery. Colonel Speakman, of the 133d, erroneously states in 
his report of the battle that his regiment was on the right of the 
line in our assault. This honor belonged to our regiment, and 
its colonel was the ranking officer and by reason thereof was in 
command of the brigade. There certainly were no troops in the 
battle, in our column, on our right, and Major Patton, who 
there took command of our regiment, upon inquiry, writes that 
the T3ist was on the extreme right in the battle. Colonel 
Clark, with his 123d. was on our left. Our brigade was formed 
in two lines, and Colonel Speakman, with the 133d. and Colonel 
Allen, of the T55th, formed the second line, of which Colonel 
Speakman's regiment was on the right. The last assault had 
just been made by Howard, aided on his left by General Stur- 
gis. of the Ninth Corps, where the gallant Fifty-first bovs of 
Union countv fought in General Ferrero's Brigade, and where 



116 HISTORY OF THE 

Griffin's Division was put in. It was in support of that assault 
that General Couch directed a battery to be brought up to the 
rear of the charging column. Captain Morgan replied, "Gen- 
eral a battery could not live out there," to which he replied, 
"Then it must die out there." Captain Hazard's battery was 
sent and it did most effective execution, especially by its enfil- 
ading fire upon the enemy in front of Sturgis. A portion of 
another battery was sent to his support under Captain Frank. 
It was these batteries which came up behind our brigade when 
we were close up to the front, and sent their iron hail into the 
hills in our front, over our heads, and over the heads of the 
rebels in the sunken road as well ; but they were effective among 
the rebels on the crest. These batteries were with diffi- 
culty quieted long enough to let us pass through their lines, 
and then our brigade was sent upon its mission up the slope over 
the "slaughter house" battlefield, to the front of the stone wall, 
where all day long our comrades, "by divisions, in columns of 
brigades," were sent to the harvest of death in an aimless and 
hopeless battle, by generals who failed to undersand orders and 
could not co-operate. 

There have been many flattering tributes written by mili- 
tary men, of both sides, to the valor of the Union soldiers who 
made these successive assaults. Being on the extreme right, 
near by the road which passes by the tannery and the clump of 
houses near the stone wall, where General Brook's troops were 
gathered, we could probably see more of our assaulting column, 
than could be seen from any other point on the line. When as 
a boy I eagerly read the illustrated story of a great battle, I 
often stopped to sigh and wish I might sometime, at least, look 
on and see a battle. As I looked upon our proud column that 
day, I certainly was surrounded with "all the pride, pomp and 
circumstances of glorious war!" This was real war, and the 
work done by the 131st soldiers was not exceeded on any of the 
historic battlefields — not by the charge at Balaklava, immortal- 
ized by Tennyson,.nor by that of!,Pickett's men at Gettysburg. We 
were geographically about in the centre of the contending lines, 
as well as in the midst of the carnage dealt out by the long lines 
of Union and rebel infantry, as well as by the great guns, enfilad- 
ing and direct, along the Stafiford hill, and the rebel heights, in 
front and rear. The broken down fences, the killed and 
wounded men and horses, the noise and smoke of the battle were 
certainly enough to gratify any studious or morbid desire, and 
I was more than satisfied. When we deployed and formed our 
line of battle the brigade was ordered to cast ofif everything 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 117 

that might impede our progress — our coats, knapsacks and hav- 
ersacks — all but our guns and ammunition. There was no 
change, no variation of attack, but from beginning to end, "by 
divisions, in columns of brigades," they danced that dance of 
death, the victims of that nameless demon spirit, which ruled 
that great but unfortunate Army of the Potomac. And this 
went on until the greater light of the presence of Grant made 
it hide its head in shame and disappear. Then Burnside's plan, 
the President's plan, the great patriotic people's plan prevailed, 
and the long-suffering, often-defeated Army of the Potomac 
was led by Meade and Grant, who attacked Lee, though always 
fortified, yet was never defeated, until the final triumph at Ap- 
pomattox. 

General Humphrey had not been upon the ground and did 
not know its nature, nor the position of the enemy in front ; 
but his experienced military eye soon disclosed to him the fruit- 
less character of the attack he was making. Our brigade had 
only gone half the distance over the plain when it was halted 
and he changed his orders. There were no battle lines to be 
supported or needed support. Any rebels attempting to uncov- 
er themselves were quickly swept away by the strong and skill- 
ful line of soldiers who, without organization or corps or divis- 
ion general, lay close up to the front, the remnants of all the 
columns, and held that line from the first assault until the last 
at night. We were now ordered to reserve our fire until we 
had passed beyond a mass of troops in our front and then charge 
the stone wall with the bayonet. The column again advanced, 
and then we met the full power of the enemy, and our column 
faded away from that fire just as all the other columns had done 
before us. Some of the men remained in the front lines until 
dark, some returned, some to the left, by the brick house, some 
to the spot from which we charged with the bayonet ; and sev- 
eral companies remained in front. 

General Tyler's First Brigade was now ordered across 
the road into the ravine. General Humphrey believed, as Han- 
cock believed, that the crest could be carried and his energy 
was exerted to the utmost. Tyler's men were now ordered in, 
just where he formed, and most gallantly went forward, just as 
the other brigades had done, over the same ground, and prac- 
tically with the same result. On our left, General Getty, of 
the Ninth Corps, at about the same time, made an assault in 
support, along the line of the unfinished railroad. General 
Sykes' Division did not make an assault, but was in reserve on 
Humphrey's right, and after the battle, at about ii p. m., held 



118 HISTORY OF THE 

the front line. In some of the rebel reports of the battle they 
represent Humphrey's charge as the most persistent attack and 
attributed it to a greater column and that it was made by the 
Regulars of the Fifth Corps. Some of the histories of the war 
fall into the same error ; but Sykes' Regulars were not on the 
field when Humphrey's first charge was made, and they did not 
make an assault. This fact was subsequently made the subject 
of an article in a public announcement by Capt. Carson Mc- 
Clellan, of General Humphrey's staff, in order to correct the 
error. Thus the imequal contest was kept up, until merciful 
darkness came and put an end to it. 

On the left General Franklin's column maintained the line 
held after the attack of Meade's column, and easily repulsed 
every effort made by the enemy to advance. There was firing 
all along the line and at times by infantry, and artillery, with all 
the tumult of great battle, but Franklin, it seems, did not under- 
stand his orders to mean that he should defeat Lee, and would 
not advance, and Stonewall Jackson could not, and so the 
battle ended there. 

When our brigade was in Colonel Allabach was close to 
General Humphrey and gave him his utmost support in direct- 
ing the assault. Major Patton and Adjutant Pollock, by 
their bravery and constant contact with the men, endeared 
themselves to them forever, and won distinction for meritorious 
service. The captains and lieutenants, as well, stood to their 
posts and, like the men, performed their duty. 

In recounting some of the details of our charge, I, of 
course, write from my point of view only, and I sincerely regret 
that many deserving things to be mentioned are unavailable to 
me for record here. The story of Company C, Captain Jones, 
I think, must be nearly identical with that of Company A, for, as 
I recollect it, we were side by side through it all. But further 
to our left I lost much of what was done by the breaks in our 
line, occasioned by intervening fences, or with obstructions, and 
by the merciless fury of the hidde-n enemy behind the stone 
walls, the open mouths of the Washington Artillery on the 
crest, and the shot and shell rained upon us, or at us, from all 
sides. The right of the regiment advanced parallel with the 
telegraph road, and near to it. possibly deflecting somewhat to 
the right. The centre and left deflected more to the left, to- 
wards the brick house. Captain Jones and Adjutant Pollock 
were the only officers except Lieutenants Kepler and Fichthorn, 
of Company A, with whom I conversed during the advance ; 
but, at intervals, through the smoke, I got glimpses of the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 119 

whole line. There was very little for any officer to do. The 
men did everything. Orders were indeed given, but all the of- 
ficers, everywhere, conformed with alacrity to the neces- 
sities of the occasion, which was all they could do, and these 
were alike mandatory to officers and privates, who advanced 
and fell, and rose like billows on the sea. 

It was a sorrowing gathering of the defeated but not dis- 
mayed soldiers of the broken columns when they gathered upon 
their colors, after the recoil from the fatal stone wall, and 
listened to roll call. It appears the whole army was required to 
do this and report their losses. These reports were subse- 
quently tabulated and appear in the "Rebellion Records," and 
they were, of course, correct reports of what was then known, 
but' many of those then reported killed later returned to their 
companies, and others reported missing were among the killed, 
and some of the wounded died upon the field or in the hospitals 
of the city. There were few prisoners taken from the right, 
except only those necessarily left after recrossing the river. 

General Humphrey and Colonel Allabach personally led 
our brigade from the field down to General Tyler's Brigade, 
where he directed the division to form in the ravine where he 
had deployed. He also directed that searching parties should 
be sent forward to gather all the killed and wounded. In this 
Company A had anticipated him, for, after our repulse, when 
we were waiting at the point from which General Hum- 
phrey and Colonel Allabach led our brigade,! had sent a faithful 
detail in search of our lost comrades. Lieutenant Kepler was 
left in command and I accompanied Lieutenant Fichthorn with 
a detail. Privates William H. Aikey, George W. 
Lashells and Henry Stees were known to have fallen, 
and many others were sorely wounded. We failed 
to find Aikey ; but several days after we returned to the old 
camp, when we continued our searches, we found his grave, 
plainly marked with name, company and regiment, in a field 
hospital burial ground, near the river, not far from Fredericks- 
burg. He was doubtless taken up and carried to the rear by 
our faithful ambulance corps. Lashells and Stees were found 
lying near together, helpless, in the little square field, in sight of 
the stone wall. We had almost given up the search, as we had 
gone as far as we supposed we had advanced upon the final 
charge, which we made when Tyler's Brigade advanced. 
There were only a few scattered bodies, but one of the men {Here 
was believed to be Stees. I struck a match and bent close and 
fully recognized him. He had a severe wound in the fore- 



120 HISTORY OF THE 

head and was unconscious, but not dead. His comrades placed 
him upon a blanket and bore him to the rear, when they saw 
him placed in an ambulance. They had scarcely started with 
their precious burden when our voices were recognized and we 
were called by Lashells, lying close by. I cjuickly turned to 
him, when he recognized me and requested some water. Our 
canteens had all been emptied, for all up that line over which 
our advance lay, there were very many helpless wounded and 
fevered ones, who pitifully called to be taken off, and for water. 
I tested the canteens of a number of the dead and found one 
nearly filled, which I cut off, and George drank freely from 
it. We inquired of his wounds, but he could not talk dis- 
tinctly. He raised his hand to his breast, when it fell back, 
seemingly limp and powerless, but we saw that his hand was 
wounded, and inferred that he wished to point to his breast. 
He was not aware that his comrades were bearing the body of 
his schoolmate and friend. They soon returned and carried 
him back to the ambulance corps, and placed him in an ambu- 
lance. All our wounded succeeded in getting off, and we did 
not leave a man on the field. We never afterward could find a 
trace of Stees. He probably never recovered, and died be- 
fore reaching the hospital. He had abundant evidence of his 
identity about him, and his place of burial was probably marked, 
but after the rebels reoccupied the city all the headboards and 
other evidences of the tender care of comrades were entirely 
obliterated and destroyed. These bodies, so far as possible, 
were subsequently gathered into the National Cemetery, where 
they fill up those great lines of "unknown" graves, sacredly and 
tenderly preserved by the grateful government for the preserva- 
tion of which they gave their young lives. The grave of 
Lashells was found several weeks later, on the north side of the 
river, and his body was taken home by his father and laid away 
in the cemetery at Buffalo X Roads. Those who were slightly 
wounded remained with the company, others were treated in 
the field hospitals, or were sent to Washington and Point Look- 
out. Emanuel Snyder was killed by a sharpshooter next day, 
on the same ground where we were lying. 

When our details in search of our dead and wounded went 
over that field of slaughter it was quite dark, but we could read- 
ily trace our progress and saw how our column had evidently 
been deflected to the right and left under the severe fire which 
we met ; the right towards the road, and the left towards the 
brick house. Our losses on the right occurred principally in 
the field beyond the last fence which we crossed, near the road 
on our right. The losses on the left were principally after they 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 121 

had charged up beyond the brick house, directly in the rear 
of the httle house, in which the rebel general, Cobb, was 
killed. The killed of the Second Corps were still lying there — 
the enemy not permitting them to be removed. Near the 
road, where Kline and the Burkholder boys were wounded, 
I saw the body of one who appeared to be an officer, with a 
Smith & Wesson pistol in his hand. Stoopmg down and 
lighting a match I found he belonged to the Fifty-third Penn- 
sylvania, Colonel Brooke's Regiment, in which was another 
Union county company, E. Captain Church. They were close 
bv the clump of houses on the right. This officer was probably 
Lieutenant Cross, the only officer reported killed in the 
report of Colonel Brooke, although two others died of their 
wounds. I jumped down into the road at this point, hoping I 
might meet friends in the Fifty-third, but I failed to find them. 
Colonel Brooke was detailed a few days later — on the 17th and 
18th — to bury our dead under a flag of truce. He reported 
that the bodies of the men in French's Division were found 
nearest the stone wall, an honor claimed by many of the com- 
manders of regiments and brigades in their reports of the battle. 
General Humphrey claimed this honor for his men. Gen- 
eral Walker, in his "History of the Second Corps," cites Col- 
onel Brooke's report as conclusive evidence, and adds that 
General Humphrey was not on the ground when French's ad- 
vance was made. But, what is better. General Humphrey was 
on the ground later. He gathered and removed his men at a 
time when a truce in the battle permitted us to go to the front 
and when the bodies were easily recognized. When Colonel 
Brooke buried the poor fellows they had been cruelly stripped 
of their clothing ; their bodies were black and unrecognizable, 
and many of them mangled, fingers and hands having been 
cut off for jewelry. Clearly he could not then see where Gen- 
eral Humphrey's men had been. 

In reply to Captain Humphrey's letter upon this point, the 
following letter from an officer on the other side will fairly es- 
tablish tlie claim made by General Humphrey, namely, that in 
the last attack upon the stone wall his division made the near- 
est approach to the rebel stronghold : 

Washinc.ton, D. C, June 16, 1891. 

Dear Captain Humphrey: The Richmand Fayette Ar- 
tillery, a six gun battery, of which I was an officer, was attached 
to McLaw's division, (of General Lee's army). On the nth 
of December, 1862, we were placed in position in General Lee's 



122 HISTORY OF THE 

line of battle, near the telegraph road, on a commanding hill, 
which overlooked the whole city of Fredericksburg, and the 
plains below, and along the Raj^pahannock River. We were also 
in close proximity to Marye's Heights. Generals Lee and Long- 
street, with their staffs, occupied positions near our battery, to 
watch the progress of the battle. 

Our guns were intended to rake the field and the old rail- 
road cut in our front. On our left and down in front of Marye's 
Heights ran the telegraph road. This road was about four feet 
below the level of the land on the side nearer to town, while on 
the upper side rose Marye's Heights, a splendid natural fortifi- 
cation for any body of troops to resist the advance of an ap- 
proaching army. In this sunken road (called the stone wall) were 
placed General Cobb's Division and one brigade of McLaw's 
Division. On the nth the city of Fredericksburg was shelled, 
driving out all the inhabitants. On December 13th the great 
battle was fought. From our position we could see the whole 
line of battle. I saw the three grand, but desperate and un- 
successful, assaults that were made upon the sunken road. 

The first attack was made just after the repulse of General 
Franklin on our right, and I believe was made by General 
French's Division. After a fierce struggle, over many ob- 
stacles, this division retreated with heavy loss. 

The second charge was made almost immediately after the 
first — the troops were of General Hancock's Division. Both 
of these assaults were made to our left and immediately in 
front of Marye's Heights, and in consequence were further 
from our position, so we took little part in these two assaults. 
The third and last assault was made near sunset, and came 
closer and nearer to our works than the first two. The troops 
in this charge were of the Fifth Corps, General Humphrey's 
Division. They were handled in a most masterly manner, and 
were pressed forward with vigor and determination to capture 
the works at the foot of Marye's Heights, and the telegraph 
road. As the troops of this last assault emerged and formed 
line for charge our guns opened on them with great effect, but 
notwithstanding this galling and disastrous fire in their front, 
they came forward with a rush, nearly approaching the tele- 
graph road, and the works under the hill. It was with dif- 
ficulty that Cobb's and Cook's Brigades could hold their posi- 
tion during this assault. General Humphrey's Division was 
repulsed with heavy loss, perhaps more so than any other two 
divisions, from the fact that he pressed his troops closer and 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 123 

harder in the attack. We lost many vakial^le officers and men 
in this assault. 

I do not hesitate to say that if General Humphrey's Di- 
vision had attacked our line a little further to the right, he 
would undoubtedly have avoided a great portion of the sunken 
road and the fire from the batteries on Marye's Heights, (the 
Washington Artillery), and no doubt would have captured a 
part of the telegraph road, there being only two brigades be- 
hind the stone wall. 

A day or two after the battle I went out with a flag of 
true between the lines to see about burying the dead, but more 
especially to find the body of Captain King, who was on General 
McLaw's stafif, and was killed during the last assault. I saw 
the dead as they had fallen in their charge, and while I do not 
wish to detract anything from the hard fought but bloody 
battle in which they had been repulsed, I must in justice say 
that the dead bodies I saw close to our works belonged to Gen- 
eral Humphrey's Division. Very respectfully yours, 

Robert J. Fleming. 

General Cobb was killed at the Stephens house, just in 
front of the rebel line. Mrs. Martha Stephens, who was there 
during the battle, is quoted as saying : "The field was blue in the 
morning, before the army was taken off, by next morning it 
was white, and it did not snow, either, that night." She meant 
that all the clothes had been stripped from the bodies of the 
Union soldiers. Three soldier caps, bearing the numbers "131, 
P. v.," were found close by Mrs. Stephens' house. They are 
said to be among the relics now in the National Cemetery col- 
lection at Fredericksburg. 

There has been much controversy, also, between the men 
of Allabach's and Tyler's Brigades, growing out of the two as- 
saults, and the erroneous reports made concerning them. Alla- 
bach's Brigade did not retire after they made their assault, but 
Ihcy were on the field until after dark, many of them 
having advanced with Tyler's Brigade when it made its mag- 
nificent charge. Companies A and C charged with them with 
almost full ranks, and possibly other companies on our left. 
Colonel Clark, of the 123d, who was on our left in the front 
line of our column with the 131st, in his report of the battle 
says that "four companies of the right wing of his regiment 
did not retire until after dark." Tyler's Brigade, as it came out 
of the city, was placed on the right of the road, near to the old 
tannery, where they remained until after our charge was made. 



124 HISTORY OF THE 

They were then brought upon the same ground where we had 
formed, made their charge, and retired to the place from which 
they started. General Humphrey clearly states this point in 
his report, when he says, "Directing General Tyler to reform 
his brigade under cover of the ravine I returned to the portion 
of Allabach's Brigade still holding, with the other troops, the 
line of embankment. My force being too small to try another 
charge. I communicated the result to General Butterfield and 
received instructions to bring the remainder of my troops to 
the ravine. This was accordingly done, the 123d and 155th, 
commanded by Colonel Clark and Colonel Allen, retiring slow- 
ly and in good order, singing and hurrahing. Colonel Alla- 
bacli brought off the other two regiments, the 131st and the 
133d. in equally good order." It will be seen thus that Alla- 
bach's Brigade, which was first and last on the field — led off by 
General Humphrey and Colonel Allabach, back to where Gen- 
eral Tyler's Brigade was previously stationed. General Hum- 
phrey states that many of Allabach's men advanced with Tyler's 
Brigade, as did some of the troops of the Second Corps, and he 
complains that the column became too large to handle properly. 
But that was done, all day, upon every charge that was made. 
No human eye could see the front of those columns, for they 
were enveloped in an impenetrable smoke. I was on the ex- 
treme right, and saw as much as could be seen, but I could see 
little more than our first two companies. I fully believed we 
were going in and the officers raised their swords aloft and 
cried out. "They are retreating; forward, men!" From rebel 
reports I learned that these were troops which had been re- 
lieved, which I believed then was likely to be a stampede. I am 
quite stire that our front ranks were fired into by the column 
which had become "too massive," and some of the shells and 
.solid shot of our batteries also fell too near or passed confus- 
ingly close over our heads. There can be but little doubt that 
General Humphrey was well fortified with the facts to fully 
substantiate his claim in his report, as to the error in allowing 
other troops in his front when he was directed to charge the 
.stone wall with the bayonet ; and, to my mind. General Couch, 
who on several occasions directed that the mass of troops be- 
hind the stone wall ought to be flanked by an attack from the 
right of the plank road, and by batteries to enfilade them, made 
a fatal error when he recalled or did not enforce his orders. 

Cobb's Brigade and the Twenty-fourth North Carolina 
were placed by General McLaws along the telegraph road, in 
front of Marye's Heights. When Cobb's got into position, 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 125 

Ransom's Division was withdrawn and placed in reserve. 
This was the force against which the first assanUs were made. 
The Washington Artillery withderw before the final charge was 
made, but was reinforced by Kershaw's Brigade, just doubling 
the numbers to General Humphrey. Some of the retiring 
troops gave the appearance of a retreat, and doubtless gave rise 
to the reports that the enemy was retreating, when General 
Humphrey was ordered in. 

General Hancock, in his report, says: "No ground was 
held in front of our line, nor did any soldiers fall nearer the 
enemy than those of the regiments of Kimball's Brigade of 
French's Division." It became very evident to the supporting 
columns of Hooker's men that the Second and Ninth Corps 
were very jealous about our troops of the Fifth Corps advanc- 
ing beyond their line. It was an interference of which General 
Humphrey said. 'T cannot refrain from expressing the opinion 
that one of the greatest obstacles to my success was the mass of 
troops lying on our front line. They ought to have been re- 
moved before mine advanced." General Hancock had like- 
wise reported that the enemy was retreating, when we were 
ordered in ; but he was as clearly misinformed upon that oc- 
casion as he may have been as to the point where the troops of 
the respective columns fell. I find that a number of brigade 
and regimental commanders of the divisions of Sturgis, Griffin 
and Gettv, who also charged the stone wall a little on our left, 
made similar claims for the head of their columns, in their re- 
ports of the battle. At 9 p. m. we were taken across the road 
beyond the tannery, up near to the unfinished Mary Washing- 
ton Monument, vvhere we bivouacked in the mud and fell asleep 
ujion our arms. 

The conditions for rest and slumber were not favorable. 
The mild temperature and bright sunshine of the afternoon, in 
seeming mockery of the stormy human passions which were 
raging, had thawed the frozen ground and the tread of many 
battalions had so mixed it as to constitute the surface a sea of 
mortar. But, relieved from duty, tired nature would soon as- 
sert itself, and if the soldiers could get down and secure warmth 
they would sleep anywhere. A rebel battery heard our moving 
column anfl sent a few shells into the dark to feel us. The last 
one was not far out of range. Lieutenants Kepler and Fichthon 
proposed to pool our 1)lankets, so we placed one in the mud 
and enclosed ourselves in the other two, and we were readv for 



126 HISTORY OF THE 

sleep. But the last shell was uncomfortably near, and we had 
about made up our minds that it was rather too damp there, 
but the battery directed its efforts to some other point and we 
were soon fast in the embrace of Morpheus. The men of the 
131st. in a long battle line, slept upon their arms, and were 
bundled up in all conceivable postures, tired and dejected by 
the cruel fortunes of the day. We got but a short sleep, for, 
about 12 o'clock, midnight, we were aroused and called into 
ranks. There are no laggards upon such occasions and the 
boys responded to the call with alacrity. Many of the troops 
were out of ammunition and it had been determined to renew 
the attack in the morning. We were therefore ordered down 
into the city, where we awaited our turn and received our sup- 
plv. We took such opportunity as we found to look after our 
wounded, but failed to find any that night. Nearly all the 
houses along the streets upon which we were waiting, were full 
of wounded soldiers. The doors were all open, and the halls 
and rooms, front and back, and many up stairs, were occupied 
by rows of sick, wounded and dead — their heads to the wall, 
rovs's upon rows of them. We ran along these rows, taking 
only quick looks to see if we could find our own. Having re- 
ceived our ammunition we were immediately taken up through 
the city and ovit to the front on the same line which we had oc- 
cupied in the battle. We were close up to the front, but all was 
comparatively quiet, only an occasional shot or shell was thrown 
where there seemed to be a movement of troops, and the pickets 
kept up a weak fire in the front. The conformation of the 
ground was such as to afford us protection, if we kept close 
down. Sykes' Regulars, of our Corps, were on the picket line. 
J Jere \ve remained all day Sunday. Late in the afternoon Pri- 
vate Emanuel Snyder, of Company A, was killed by a rifle shot 
by a sharpshooter from one of the houses within their lines. 
Several men in the regiment had been wounded, and I had 
been munching some crackers and conversing with some of the 
inen at the head of the company, among them Snyder. Seeing 
a little commotion down the line and a knot of officers gathered 
there, I crept there to confer with them upon the situation. I 
was running along in a stooping position, when the men of the 
next company called to me, "One of your men was just now 
hit." I quickly retraced my steps and Snyder was already 
quite dead, having been shot through the heart. His brother, 
William, was by his side and the comrades did all that was pos- 
sible to do. We were soon after called into line for a move, and 
after a hurried consultation it was deemed best to bury him at 
once, and his body was carefully and tenderly borne to the rear 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 127 

a short way, attended by his brother and a few comrades and 
laid away. 

* * "Not in sheet nor in shroud we wound him ; 
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest, 
With his martial cloak around him." 

Snyder was one of the tall and splendid soldiers among the 
fours at the head of the company and regiment, of whom the 
officers of Company A were justly proud. Willing, obedient, 
careful, cheerful, their commendable spirit and conduct made 
it easy and a pleasure to command such men. 

I will not enter into the details of the struggle wdiich was 
going on among many officers of high rank concerning the con- 
tinuation of the battle. General Burnside insisted that our 
battle had not been fought and he proposed to lead his old 
Ninth Corps in person and renew the effort. But such was the 
intensity of the opposition to Burnside that he foially yielded, 
and it was determined not to renew the attack. 

Our army remained all day Sunday and Monday holdingthe 
city and all the line from right to the extreme left, the rebels re- 
maining behind their entrenchments so closely, that when we 
retired across the river, on Monday night, they failed to dis- 
' cover the fact until all our troops were safely across. 

On Sunday evening, just after the sad burial scene, we 
were again relieved for a while and were taken into the city, at 
aboitt 8 o'clock, to be assigned to another position in the line. 
We had strict orders not to leave the ranks — but hunger was 
also commanding, and some of the men took turns to run into 
some of the abandoned rebel homes to find and prepare some- 
thing warm to replenish the inner man, not having had a warm 
bite for some days. After lying upon the ground resting for 
some time, I was aroused by Sergeant Halfpenny, who re- 
quested me to step back with him, as some of the boys had taken 
advantage in the lull of duty, and had prepared a supper to 
Avhich they considerately invited their officers. They were in 
the kitchen of a large brick house, had a rousing fire in the 
range, hot coffee, fried ham and "hot pan cakes" were smoking) 
on the table, set with an array of dishes which were probably 
considered ornamental if not useful. As all had been living 
vvholiy from their haversacks and had no fires for three or four 
days, it will not require an effort to imagine how hungry all 
were and how this supper was relished. There was no wanton 
destruction of anything in the house nor in the city by our men, 
but the boys kept that kitchen going as long as the hams and 



128 HISTORY OF THE 

flour held out. This was doubtless done by many others of 
the regiment with varied experiences. We were next placed on 
the line in the upper part of the city. General Whipple was on 
tlie right, his lines extending to the river above the city. Gen- 
eral Griffin was on the left, his line extending to Fauquier street, 
and General Humphrey's Division was on Griffin's left near the 
cemetery extending to Amelia street, connecting with General 
Sykes' Division, which extended to Hanover street, where he 
connected with the Second Corps. The Second and Ninth 
Corps held the lower part of the city, connecting with Franklin. 
At noon, on Monday, the 15th, the Fifth Corps was ordered to 
hold the city and was assigned the duty of covering the passage 
of the army to the north side. The search for our dead and 
wounded was continued by many. I remember in a little yard 
by what I took to be a church, 1 found a group of men of Com- 
pany F. They had just tenderly closed a grave upon the body 
of their much esteemed commander, Captain George W. Ryan, 
who was killed in front of the stone wall, when gallantly lead- 
ing his men in the bayonet charge. They had carefully marked 
his grave, with name, company and regiment. Thus the watch- 
ing and waiting was continued and many of our wounded were 
found and cared for. Lieutenant Bruner, of Company E, I 
learned, had been killed, but I did not know what became of his 
body. We searched diligently for the bodies of Stees, Lashells 
and Aikey,of our company, but were not successful. The scenes 
about us there were those of a ruined and pillaged city, and will 
never be forgotten by any who were there. 

Orders were received that our line should now be en- 
trenched and barricades should be thrown up, but all the troops 
could not engage, as there were few implements in the front, 
but a strong line was soon formed, with an array of batteries 
which would have easily resisted any advance likely to be made. 
At 10 o'clock Monday night, the whole lower part of the city 
was abandoned by the Second and Ninth Corps and our lines 
were extended to the left to cover a portion of the ground. I 
then first learned that our troops were ordered over the river to 
the northern side. The column of Ferero's Brigade was coming 
in and passing through our lines. I was lying on a broken 
shutter by the wayside, trying to get a nap, when the boister- 
ous boys of the old Fifty-first recognized Company A, and their 
mutual recognition, under the circumstances, was somewhat 
demonstrative. Captain George A. Hassenplug, of Company 
E, coolly put his hand all over my head and announced, as he 
hurried by, "The next battalion will meet at Johnny Weaver's," 




CAPT. FRANK T. WIi,SON, 
Commanding Company I. 



isnt PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 129 

and then was off in the dark with the mass of troops with their 
mufiled tread, down towards the bridges. 

There were some rifle pits and entrenchments thrown up, 
but tliere were none on the Hnc held by the 131st. Some of 
Tyler's Regiment extending their lines down below the rail- 
road station, and Company E, of the Ninety-first, not receiving 
notice to retire, fought its way out after daylight and ten of 
their men were captured. The right wing of the 131st came 
very near being left in a similar position. One of the streets 
divided our regiment. When the order of withdrawal came 
the officers were on the left, and the left wing withdrew, but did 
not communicate the order across the street to the right wing. 
When Colonel Allabach got his brigade together he quickly dis- 
covered the error and sent an officer after us. It was near 
daylight and we were on the advance, but were blissfully ignor- 
ant of our exposed position. I think that Captain Lentz, of 
Company E, Ninety-first, whose men kept up a lively fire upon 
the rebel pickets, may have had much to do in deceiving the 
enemy, and preventing their discovering the retreat. At all 
events, it was 6.30 in the morning when General Humphrey or- 
dered our recall, and some time elapsed before the right wing of 
the regiment left the line, but so successful had been the with- 
drawal the enemy had not yet suspected it. The officer sent for 
us very excitedly came to Company A and said the whole line 
had been withdrawn and we should hurry out of this as quickly 
as possible, or we would all be captured. The city had been 
searched and stragglers and the sleeping ones, and all our 
wounded and stores were withdrawn. General Franklin, on 
the left, had successfully recrossed the river, his rear guard 
passing over at 4.30 and his bridges were all taken up in less 
than an hour afterwards. Our corps was given two bridges, 
but before we crossed the officer in charge of the lower one, who 
had been given orders to take it up as soon as it was not needed, 
when he found few troops there took it up ; but later it was 
found our troops had been busy in the city and when General 
Hooker learned that only one bridge remained he ordered the 
other to be instantly replaced, and, as Major Spaulding, of the 
engineers, states in his report, 'Tn less than twenty-five min- 
utes after I received General Hooker's order, the bridge was 
again ready for use." Grifiin's and Humphrey's Divisions now 
crossed the river and Sykes' Regulars followed, the last brigade 
leaving the upper bridge at 8 o'clock. 

Licut.-Col. W. H. Powell, of the Eleventh United States 



130 HISTORY OF THE 

Infantry, in his History of the Fifth Corps, thus refers to that 
last nig-ht at Fredericksburg : 

"Who that hves and was present in the city of Fredericks- 
burg can forget the last night spent there? In the early part 
of the night it had rained — a cold December rain — but towards 
midnight it cleared away, and a chilling, bleak wind from the 
north sent great black clouds scudding across the sky, through 
which occasionally peeped a feeble moon. Torn awnings and 
broken window shutters flapped and banged about, starting 
echoes in every nook and corner, while broken signboards, 
swinging on their metal fastenings, uttered groans and shrieks 
as of incarnate fiends let loose from Hades. The horses' hoof^ 
rang out on the cobblestones of the streets with such rebound- 
ing echoes as to fill the mind with superstitious dread, while the 
ghastly dead lay on the door steps, on the sidewalks, in the 
front yards of dwellings, with their faces turned towards heav- 
en, while their open eyes, as a stream of moonlight feel athwart 
their faces, glared at me as if staring from another world. 
Through such as this it was the writer of this history made his 
lonely ride to the bridge." 

At 8.45 Major Spaulding had the bridge on the north side, 
near the old piers of the old burned bridge, and 10 o'clock his 
men went into camp. When the enemy emerged from their en- 
trenched lines and stone walls they discovered what their 
])ickets had not done, that the Army of the Potomac had retired 
unmolested to their old camps. About daylight rain commenced 
falling, and when rain falls here the bottom falls out of the 
roads, and these discomforts were also heaped upon the brave 
but dejected, abused men, who abundantly and gloriously 
proved their metal but did not really meet their enemy in battle 
on account of a "wrangle among our own generals." 

"Some things arise of strange and quarreling kind, 
The fore part lion, and a snake behind." 



I 



131st PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 131 



CHAPTER VII. 

AFTER THE BATTLE. 

T is more than thirty years since that sorrowful event on the 
field of Fredericksburg-, and the head of the youngest livmg 
soldier is gray, but no one who was there will forget the deep 
impre'^sions which that terrible scene then made. There was no 
time to o-iv- to our dead and wounded, who so recently went 
from our camp so full of life and hope ; now the quiet of our 
quarters for the first time left these brave soldiers to their re- 
flections upon the losses which they had sustamed. In the 
lei'^ure of the tent every detail of the battle, from the time we 
broke camp until our wet, wearied and sorrowful return, was 
eao-erlv "-one over ; our killed and wounded comrades and every 
inadent^connected with their fate, as was common after every 
battle were sadlv recalled and notes compared of the individual 
experiences, from the headquarters of the generals to the tents 
of the men along the lines who fought the battle. 

From the lists of the officers in charge of the several com- 
panies of the 131st I copy the following losses, as they were 
reported I find it is not an accurate list of all killed, wounded 
and missing ; but it is a report of what was known at the time : 
Company A, Captain Orwig. Killed, Privates Wm. H. 
Aikev George W. Lashells. Emanuel Snyder, Henry G. btees. 
Wounded, Fieut. Wm. Fichthorn, side, slight ; Sergt. Isaac 
Treat head ; Corporal Henry Phillips, breast ; Corporal Samue 
S Smith, in hand ; Corporal N. W. Strahan, leg; Corporal 
Chas Worman (color guard) concussion; Privates Lewis 
Burkholder, by shell in foot, severe ; Wm. Burkholder, m hip ; 
Peter Collins, side ; Henry C. Kline, leg, severe ; Emanuel Leib, 
head and thigh ; Wm. Rossman, arm amputated. 

Company B, Captain Bly. Killed, Privates John Comley, 
J TruckamiUer. Wounded, Lieut. Jos. M. Irvine, head ; Corp- 
oral T L. Durham, knee ; Corporal J. Heckel, disabled by shell ; 
Corporal Daniel J. Reader, shoulder ; Privates Wm. H Dennes, 
shoulder; [. W. Dougherty, breast, severe; G. W. Haag, 
bowels, severe; R. A. Gufify, head, severe ; J. Lodge, foot ; Chas. 
Starr, foot ; G. Wertz, shoulder, severe ; J. Wilhver. arm. 

Company C, Captain Jones. Killed, Privates Peter Fisher, 
Landis Stamer, George W. Lavan, Samuel Walker. Wounded, 
Corporal J. M. Rockafeller, hand and arm; Samuel Swenk, 
hand ; Corporal C. P. Seasholtz, thigh ; S. A. Bird, arm ; J. M. 



132 HISTORY OF THE 

Achmuty, side, by shell, severe; A. S. Haas, shoulder; Elias 
Hoover, wrist, severe ; James Hunt, back and side, by shell, 
severe ; D. M. Rashner, disabled ; Moses Kulp, hand ; Peter 
Ktilp, head ; George Maiitz, face ; S. O. Reed, hand ; Isaac 
Sarvis, arm and leg ; Wm. Yearger, arm ; G. Y. Weiner, head. 
Missing, John Everet, C. A. Spratt. 

Company D, Captain McManigal. Killed, Privates Joseph 
H. Smith, Wm. C. Heister, Edwin P. Mertz, John W. Ort, 
Ebenezer Ford. Wounded, Capt. D. A. McManigal, arm, 
severe ; Lieut. D. D. Muthersbaugh, wrist ; Sergt. R. S. Parker, 
leg (died in hospital, Washington, D. C.) ; Sergt. James Conch, 
head ; Corporal J. T. Rothrock, thigh ; Chas. Marks, right arm, 
amputated; Geo. W. Stall, neck; Henry H. Renninger, arm; 
Jacob Rohrer, arm ; David Stemberger, arm and side, severe ; 
James Hackett, leg, severe ; W. P. Witheron, neck, severe ; 
Miles Guiher. Missing, David Robenault, B. Alexander, Geo. 
K. Dippery. 

Company E, Captain Isaiah B. Davis. Killed, Lieut. 
Wm. A. Bruner, Private John Straub. Wounded, Capt. I. B. 
Davis, arm and foot; Sergt. Elias Barts, shoulder; Wm. 
Angstadt, arm ; Samuel Byerly, leg ; Wm. A. Fisher, side ; 
Samuel M. Miller, side ; Wm. Runkel, arm ; Jacob Smith, 
breast; L. B. Shuck, arm; W. H. Trego, arm; Curtis B. Wat- 
son, wrist. Missing, D. J. Kremer, George C. Sheets, 
wounded. 

Company F, Captain Ryan. Killed, Capt. George W. 
Ryan, Sergt. John Gardner, Private wSamuel Koch. Wounded, 
Sergt. F. W. Keller, knee; S. S. Schoch, shoulder; J. H. Lewis, 
hand ; Corporal David Getz, leg, severe ; A. Renninger, leg ; 

E. H. Harman, hand, severe; Henry Renninger, leg; John 
Hagerty, hip ; John Bolinger, hip ; D. W. Laudenslager, arm ; 
G. A. Musser, side ; John Spahr, hand ; John M. Howel, 
shoulder ; B. F. Lase ; D. G. Shive, cheek ; J. Roush, arm ; 
James Musser, leg; W. H. Gemberling, arm. Missing, M. W. 
Row, J. P. Smith, E. F. Teats, Henry W. Mattes, Benj. Lose. 

Company G, Captain Charles B. Davis. Killed, Corporal 
John Myer, Privates John Sarvey, Joseph Divers, Samuel 
Stonecyplier. Wounded, Capt. Chas. B. Davis, knee ; David R. 
Foust, neck ; John Waldren, side ; Adolph Bush, shoulder ; J. A. 
Leiser, arm ; Wm. Lehman, back, minie-ball extracted ; Jesse 
Bender, side ; Thomas Wolfe, head ; Samuel Covert, breast ; 
Joseph Crawford, neck; Abraham Busier, arm; H. Stahl, leg; 

F. Harris, leg; J. Young, head; J. Logan, hip; J. Levan, hand; 
David Mann, hand. Missing, Daniel Moyer. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



133 



Company H, Captain Keefer. Killed, Private Jacob 
Dimni, John Berger, Elias Herlocher, Frank Diffenderfer. 
Wounded, Lieut. De La Green, knee; Sergt. Israel J. Painter, 
hip, severe; Sergt. James Walton, shoulder; Corporal Wm. 
Wiilets. arm broken; S. B. Menges, shoulder broken; Wash- 
ington Bowman, head and shoulder ; Oscar M. Childs, face; 
Stephen Flick, face ; Wilson Gundrum, hand ; John Hartzig, 
shoulder and breast; Benj. Houseknecht, hip, severe; Jonathan 
Fluston, arm; James Mackey, hand; M. Reeser, arm; John 
Rudman, face ; E. F. Rook, arm ; Isaac N. Smith, arm ; George 
Stetler, shoulder; Solomon Updegraff, hand. Missing, Frank 
DiefTenderfer. 

Company I, Captain Wilson. Killed, Private Aaron C. 
Fullmer, Jonathan Fullmer. Wounded, Michael Andrews, hip ; 
Dennis Callahan, thigh, severe; William Kline, arm; S. Grant 
Moore, chest, serious ; David Riggle, shoulder ; Richard Strad- 
ley, hand ; A. Stradley, leg ; Henry Stryker, hip ; Elias Sechler, 
shoulder and thigh; Oliver W. Wolf, hip; Sergt. Jno. B. 
Underbill, foot. 

Company K, Captain WareanT. Killed, Thomas A. Post- 
elwaite. Wounded, Capt. Jos. Waream, by shell; Lieut. 
Grantham T. Waters; Sergt. G. S. Morrison, Sergt. J. W. 
Kennadv, shoulder; Amos T. Bell head; Gabriel Carpenter; 
Peter Duck, head ; Corporal John Hughes, both thighs, minie- 
ball ; Wm. W. Kitting, arm. Missing, J. W. Crawford. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Shaut was disabled, from concussion, 
and left the field, when Major Patton took command. Sergt. 
Major R. S. Parker is reported with the wounded of Company 
D, of Lewistown. He was wounded in the calf of the leg and 
was sent to Washington, where he died January loth, 1863. He 
was the young man whom Col. Eli Slifer, secretary of the com- 
monwealth, had recommended so highly for the position. _He 
was a young man of rare ability and of high social standing 
and was greatly esteemed as a soldier. His death was not ex- 
pected from the seemingly light flesh wound, and his loss was 
keenly felt by his comrades. 

Captain Ryan, of Company F, was killed on the field by a 
bullet in the head. He was a citizen of Middleburg, Snyder 
county, and was a brave and efficient officer, who had made 
strong friendships. His company was in the thickest of that 
bayonet charge upon the stone wall, led by General Humphrey 
and Colonel Allabach, and received the full power of the 
numerous and concealed enemy, whose position and machinery 
of death no bravery nor skill could overcome. 



134 HISTORY OF THE 

Lieut. Wm. Bruner, of Company E, was a citizen of Sun- 
bury, and was a brother of Chas. J. Bruner, late the Revenue 
Collector of the Fourteenth District. He was severely wound- 
ed in the abdomen, and was taken from the field, but died soon 
afterwards. He was a born soldier, fearless in action, and his 
loss was deplored by the entire regiment. 

Then there is the long list of non-commissioned officers 
and private soldiers who, here and elsewhere, executed orders 
and fell at their posts with their guns in their hands. The 
books do not contain worded eulogies — no books could contain 
them if they were wirtten by their comrades or friends. They 
went down in the performance of the loftiest duty tO' country 
that men can perform. But they were worthy men to be led 
by the noble officers who commanded and led them in their 
duty, and gave their talents and energy in overcoming the 
enemy, and seal their devotion by their lives when necessary. 
But a Nation preserved and its grateful benedictions are assured 
to them all as long as time endures. 

The killed and wounded were promptly sought for and 
borne from the front, but our duty then called all able bodied 
men into the ranks, and their care was left to those appointed 
for that duty. 

" With the heroes who sleep on the hillside, 
He lies with the flag at bis head ; 
But blind with the years of their weeping, 
The parents yet mourn for their dead. 

" The soldier who falls in the battle 
May feel but a moment of pain. 
But the dear ones who wait in the homesteads, 
Ah ! theirs are the woes that remain." 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



135 



TAI'.LR OF LOSSES IN 


BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. 






Killed. 


Wounded 


Captured or 
Missing 




1st brigade. 

Gen. Erastus B. Tyler. 


(0 

u 
V 

u 

i6 
o 

1 
1 
1 

2 


V 

% 

8 

11 
16 
12 


U 
1) 

o 

ifl 

O 




1) 

o 




►4 
< 
H 



91st Pennsylvania . . 
126th Pennsylvania . . 
129th Pennsylvania. . 
134th Pennsylvania . . 


3 

7 

8 

10 


43 
59 
92 
99 




20 
14 
22 
25 


75 

92 

139 

146 


Total 


5 


47 


28 


293 


. . . 


81 


454 


2d brigade. 
Porter H. Allabach. 






















1 

5 
6 
7 
1 








1 


Start • ■ ■ 

12od Pennsylvania . . 
131st Pennsylvania . . 
133d Pennsylvania . . 
155th Pennsylvania . . 


1 
2 
3 
1 


" 14 

20 

17 

5 


101 
132 
138 

57 




13 

15 

19 

4 


134 

175 

184 

68 


Total 


7 


56 


20 


428 




51 


562 


Total Division . . . 
Total 5th Corps . . . 


12 
21 


103 

185 


51 
125 


721 
1554 




132 
300 


1019 
2175 



RECAPITULATION— TOTAL CASUALTIES AT FREDERICKSBURG. 



Killed 



62 
33 

28 



461 
319 
373 



124 1160 



Wounded 



310 
186 
155 



46 

8 

3971 

2315 

2606 



Captured 



654 8946 





« 










V 


m 


o 


> 


^ 


u 


O 


Ph 




2 


1 


639 



611 



20 1749 



59 

8 
5444 
3355 
3787 

12653 



Engineers 

Arty. Res 

R. G. Div 

C. G. Div 

L. G. Div 

Total . . . ■■ 

T;;;;i^;i;;rk[li;dr^ wounded, 3743. Total, 4201. Missing not 
reported. 

The reoulars were on picket in our front on Saturday 
nieht and In the absence of other means of protection they 
threw the frozen bodies of dead soldiers before them and kept 
up their vie-ils. They also placed dead bodies at exposed places 
to substitute living pickets who from some other shelter were 



136 HISTORY OF THE 

guarding the line. There were no earth works or any of the 
ordinary defensive means of protecting soldiers employed until 
after the battle of Saturday, when a strong line was formed 
just on the outside of the city. Dead horses were noticed to be 
quickly appropriated during the battle, and were found a first- 
class cover for the men firing. General Humphrey had two 
horses shot under him and Colonel Allabach had one killed. 
Very few horses taken to the front escaped, and only a few 
generals niade the attempt to take them there. The battery — 
Capt. Hazard's, which came up to our rear and made such a 
noise, lost sixteen horses, and Captain Frank's six. These two 
batteries were the only ones which went to the front with the 
charging column in the battle on the right. They belonged to 
the Second Corps. That was a phase of the battle of which the 
131st was a very close witness. The infantry conflict was 
noisy ; but those guns immediately behind us, firing at very 
close range, together with the front and enfilading guns of the 
enemy, presented a spectacle rarely equalled in the annals of 
war. On the day previous Lee visited his lines at this point 
with General Longstreet. He was assured by the chief of 
artillery that "he could rake this point as with a fine tooth comb. 
No chicken could live in front of these guns." That was braga- 
docia, for our lines got so close to the front of that hill that his 
guns could not be depressed enough to reach us. The confor- 
mation of the ground was such as to afford shelter, even, 
largely for the infantry, and to these conditions may be attri- 
buted the fact that when all our assaulting columns recoiled 
from the stone walls they did not retire, but in great mass 
formed a line there and remainded all day, except a few regi- 
ments broken, or parts of regiments or brigades which became 
disorganized. It must be remembered, also, that Captain 
Hazard did not lose a man killed in his battery, and Captain 
Frank only one. General Newton was one of those most active 
in hostility to Burnside, but the irony of fate made this same 
halting general, a few months later, under General Sedgwick, 
during the Chancellorsville campaign, not only to assault but to 
carry this same impregnable position and capture the enemy 
holding it. 

All the companies of the regim.ent performed their duty as 
unflinchingly as the best veterans on that field. It would be a 
pleasure to recite the most interesting details known to the 
comrades, but not now attainable. There was really nO' op- 
portunity for the exercise of any individual skill or bravery, by 
the charging column. Men and ofBcers alike simply stood to 
their work. The enemv, after being driven from the citv and 



13 1 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 137 

into his defences, did not show themselves again. Very many 
of our men never got sight of a rebel. They were hidden. The 
"stone wall" spoken of was a broad road, sunken from four to 
six feet, upon a line less than a mile long. In this road and be- 
hind entrenchments on the hill, just behind the road, were about 
5,000 rebels, and these were all of their troops who were engaged, 
except the artillerymen. As our columns made their attacks 
by brigades it will be seen they always had more men than we 
had, and they fought with the best possible protection, and 
were supported by the batteries all along their line. Our men 
were put to a test the most severe known to warfare — advanc- 
ing upon a hidden foe over an open plain. 

The rebel officers had little to do, but they looked on with 
grim satisfaction and welcomed the successive attacks. Our 
generals could do no more and they obeyed orders perfunctorily 
and some whined, "give us l)ack our old commander." This 
was the battle on the right. 

Fox, in his "Regimental Losses," has a chapter on "Great- 
est losses in battles," and cites eighteen regiments sustaining 
unsually heavy losses at the battle of Fredericksburg among 
which is included the 131st Pennsylvania. This report was 
complied from the losses as reported immediately after the 
battle, when ony 22 men were included in the list ; but it was 
ascertained soon after that nearly twice that number had fallen. 
The total loss given was : 22 killed and a total of 175 killed and 
wounded. The missing were mostly found to have been killed. 

Age and the weight of excessive service in recent cam- 
paigns had almost disabled the great soldier who commanded 
the right wing, General Sumner. He did not go upon the field 
and after the battle requested to be relieved. He retired to his 
home .at Syracuse, N. Y., and soon afterward died. General 
1^'ranklin, who commanded the left, was a great and able 
soldier, and General Hooker, who coiiimanded the Centre 
Grand Division, was known as "fighting Joe." Burnside 
depended much upon these great officers and gave them en- 
larged commands because he needed their aid in the new and 
difficult position to which the President assigned him, and for 
which he frankly and repeatedly disclaimed his own fitness. 
But his prompt action and vigorous movements were an in- 
novation in the army of the Potomac. Delays and failures had 
the effect or rendering possible the peculiar condition of things 
which combined to defeat Burnside. I do not wish to detract 
one iota from the fame of these gallant soldiers who, as the 
student of this battle will not fail to discover, by their divisive 



138 HISTORY OF THE 

contentions permitted the plans of General Biirnside to be 
frittered away. General Franklin and General Hooker did not 
conceal their disapproval of attacking Lee, and many of the 
corps and division commanders were no less pronoimced in 
their opposition. General Franklin insisted that his orders 
were vague and that he could not understand them and that he 
complied with them as far as possible. The forces which com- 
bined to defeat General Burnside were many sided. In addition 
to the objections of his subordinate generals as to his plan of 
battle, there were those of inordinate zeal for perferment or 
promotion, and the jealousies arising therefrom. The want of 
co-operation with the Pope campaign developed was, in little 
less marked degrees, shown to Burnside, who had but lately 
come to the Army of the Potomac. 

This battle of Fredericksburg will, therefore, never be 
written down as one of the decisive battles of the war; but it 
may assuredly be claimed to have been fruitful of immeasur- 
able good and decisive, in that.it was the death knell to that 
compound of evil which hitherto, like an incubus, hung upon 
the destiny of the Army of the Potomac and defeated or 
destroyed the fruits of its victory by inaction or delay. It was 
not mutiny, nor treason, nor disloyalty, but it was so nearly 
allied to all of these, and that stood out so bold and ghastly 
upon the fatal field of Fredericksburg, that all shrunk from its 
revelation then and there, when the thin veil was torn ofif, and 
we never saw its hideous head again. 

I have quoted the correspondence with Washington and 
the orders of General Burnside which preceded this battle. I 
believe that the plan was tactically the best and that success 
was possible. Let us look to some other details. The historian. 
Palfrey, based a severe criticism upon an assumed fact, namely, 
that Burnside did exactly what his able antagonist wished him 
to do in crossing at Fredericksburg instead of the upper fords 
of the Rappahannock. But the reverse of this is easily shown 
by the most competent of witnesses. In a letter to the Con- 
federate Secretary of War, December i6, 1862, just after the 
Fredericksburg battle. Gen. Lee wrote: * * * "I think it 
would be more advantageous to retire to the Annas and give 
battle there than on the banks of the Rappahannock. My desire 
was to have done this in the first instance. My purpose was 
changed not from any advantage in this position, but from an 
unwillingness to open up more of our country to depredations, 
also with a view of collecting such forage and provisions as 
could be obtained in the Rappahannock valley. With the 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 139 

iiitmerous army opposed to me and the bridges and transporta- 
tion at his command, the crossing of the Rappahannock, where 
it is narroAv and winding, as it is in the vicinity of Fredericks- 
burg, can be made at ahiiost any point without molestation. It 
will, therefore, be more advantageous to us to draw him 
further away from his base of operations." 

In February, 1862, Jeff. Davis, President of the Confed- 
eracy, together with Gen. Joseph E. Johnson and other notable 
rebel leaders, visited Fredericksburg with a view to its defence. 
After a careful examination they deploringly remarked to the 
j\T?yor of the city, that, "to them, in a military point of view, 
J-'redericksburg was right in the wrong place." They declared 
that it was unfavorable for defense for many reasons — the 
I'.igljer nortliern banks completely commanded the city and the 
lower hills on the south side, so that a Northern army could 
occupy it at any time. They then evacuated the city. 

Stonewall Jackson urgently opposed going there to meet 
General Burnside's army, although he believed they could 
defeat him there or anywhere. He maintained they could not 
prevent our crossing and then if they defeated us they would 
not be able to pursue and their victory would be fruitless. They 
iiad stronger defensive lines and greater opportunities on the 
other line. 

General Longstreet in his Century article, refers to the 
adverse criticisms made upon Burnside's movement, and says 
in reply to those who censured him for not occupying Fred- 
ericksburg upon his first arrival there, "that it would only have 
resulted in the adoption of the line preferred by Stonewall Jack- 
son." The friends of General McClellan claimed that he con- 
templated a movement to meet Lee by the upper fords of the 
Rappahannock when his army had arrived at Warrenton. 
There is no evidence upon record to show this ; but, if he did, 
he would have done what General Palfrey in his "Antietam and 
Fredericksburg" says erroneously of Burnside, that "he did 
just what the enemy wished him to do." McClellan was peremp- 
torily ordered to move after the battle of Antietam. He 
believed that Lee was still in force in his front and would 
assume the offensive, with an army much larger than his. In 
his correspondence with General Halleck and the authorities at 
Washington, he opposed pursuit by the more northern line. He 
said, "I wish to state distinctly that I do not regard the line of 
the Shenandoah valley as important for ulterior objects. It 
is important only so long as the enemy remains at Winchester, 



140 HISTORY OF THE 

and we cannot follow that line far beyond that point — and we 
must take a new line of operations, based upon water or rail- 
road communications." 

General Hooker became particularly embittered against 
General Burnside ; but when he was placed in command and 
tried his favorite plan he found Lee and Stonewall Jackson 
upon their chosen line of defense and they simply toyed with 
the Army of the Potomac, although Jackson lost his life. How- 
land, in his "Grant as a Soldier and Statesman," says: "There 
was not then, and at no time subsequently, when General Lee 
did not have a chosen place or stronghold, with a river or a 
fortified position to repair to whenever attacked by the Army of 
the Potomac." 

It did not take Grant long to fully comprehend this fact, 
and to all appeals for some other line his one answer was suf- 
ficient, "I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." 
That meant the shorter line and that Lee's army must be the 
objective point of all his efforts, and that we would find that 
army always in a strong position. 

It must be maintained that General Burnside was right in 
assuming that in a military point of view Fredericksburg ,and 
the shorter line to Richmond was the line upon which to move. 
It was clearly not the line preferred by his enemy, for the 
reasons given by the rebel leaders. He was right is assuming 
finally that he could both cross and recross most favorably at 
Fredericksburg, because his enemy could not prevent it. He 
was prevented by no fault of his own from crossing at the time 
he intended to do so, but he was fight in the hope he entertained 
of finding some weak point on the rebel right, through which he 
might turn the strong position, for that point was found by 
General Meade and fairly won by the gallant Pennsylvania 
Reserves. He was right in the disposition of his army and the 
orders for the final attack, for there is abundant testimony to 
show that the strong column which he gave to General Franklin 
was sufficient to carry and hold the rebel right. Burnside's 
feint down the Rappahannock had compelled Lee to send a 
strong detachment there and those troops had not all returned 
and had not fortified themselves, even after the uncecessary 
delay after the crossing. 

The Confederate author. Gen. J. H. Moore, says : ''A 
general impression prevails, and it is in a great measure con- 
firmed by writers on Fredericksburg, that Stonewall Jackson's 
lines were strongly fortified. This is not correct. We had no 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 141 

time to fortify. D. H. Hill's Division had been at Port Royal, 
eighteen miles away." Ewell's Division only arrived on the 
moniing of the 13th. 

Nor is it possible to suppose that our attack upon the left 
and right was not designed to be in support of a general move- 
ment to flank the rebel position. Sumner and Franklin and 
Hooker were in supporting positions, with an open plain before 
them, upon which they could deploy in almost perfect security, 
and there was no time during the battle when there was a 
shadow or probability of a successful advance by the enemy. 
The impulsive Stonewall Jackson did indeed contemplate and 
ordered an advance after the repulse of Meade, but the assault 
was disastrous to the column, resulting in heavy losses in killed, 
wounded and prisoners, and our advanced line on the left was 
easily held. After the repulse of our right Jackson again con- 
templated an assault, as will be seen by an extract from his 
report of the battle : "The artillery of the enemy was so judici- 
ously posted as to make an advance of our troops across the 
plain very hazardous, yet it was so promising of good results^ 
if successful, as to induce me to make the attempt. The in- 
fantry was to be proceeded by artillery and the movement was 
postponed until late in the evening so that if compelled to retire 
it could be done under cover of night. The first gun had hardly 
moved forward one hundred yards when the enemy's artillery 
re-opened and so completely swept over our front as to satisfy 
me that the movement should be abandoned." 

The Compte de Paris, who was on General McClellan's 
staff, in his history, is severe in his criticisms of this battle, and 
upon the proposed advance of the rebel army he seems to think 
we were only mercifully saved by the approach of night and 
thus assigns the reason why General Jackson did not annihilate 
the Union Army. "But seeing night approaching and fearing" 
to be overtaken by darkness, he countermanded his order." 

Gen. D. H. Hill, whose division was already put in motion 
to cxcute the order for an advance, says: "Toward sundown 
on the 13th a general advance was ordered, preceded by 
artillery, but the immediate reply of the Yankee artillery to ours 
was so rapid and constant that the advance was halted before 
our column emerged from the woods to view." 

The Compte de Paris also asserts that the Union position 
did not allow the use of batteries with the infantry. He says : 
"The field pieces could not accompany the infantry ; they 
would have been dismounted in an instant." Rut field pieces 
did accompany the infantry and they were not dismounted as 



142 HISTORY OF THE 

was demonstrated by the batteries of Captain Hazard and Cap- 
tain Frank, who took their batteries in with the charge of the 
131st. It is true that comparatively httle use was made of our 
field artillery on the right, but this was owing to the fact that 
this arm of the service was under the immediate control of sub- 
ordinate officers. 

The battle on the right was a succession of assaults by 
brigades, upon one point, not accompained by their batteries; 
but the exceptional service of Captain Hazard's Battery B, First 
Rhode Island, and a portion of Captain Frank's First New 
York Artillery, Company G, served to illustrate that such 
service was both possible and practicable. The reason the bat- 
terries were not used, as well as the fact that there was no sup- 
porting use of the army, for that matter, may be easily inferred 
from the Compte's further criticism in which he declares that 
"General Burnside had no right to expect more of his lieu- 
tenants than their literal execution of his order." The generals 
with such views and service would never win battles, and there 
were many of them at Fredericksburg. Their perfunctory 
obedience to orders was the killing kindness in which we trace 
the unnamed crime of that fatal field. 

The report of the rebel Colonel H. C. Cabell, who was 
Chief of Artillery of McLaw's Division, discusses from an 
engineer's point, the relative positions of the Union and rebel 
armies and affirms that the rebel position was not naturally a 
strong one, the topography of the locality being such as to favor 
the northern approach. "The Union artillery on the north side 
completely commanded the lower hills on the south side." This 
was known to General Burnside, who had previously occupied 
the citv and was familiar with the ground. This knowledge 
enabled him to determine to cross the river then and there, in- 
stead of the more hazardous crossings below, where opposed, or 
the more remote upper fords, either of which would have been 
preferred by both Lee and Jackson, and was most pointedly se/ 
forth by President Lincoln's letter to McClellan. 

The Army of the Potomac was secure from attack when in 
and below the city and it was a mistake to retreat to the north 
side after the repulse, unless upon the ground of the want of 
diligent, earnest field support by his lieutenants. Colonel 
Cabell's report also contains the following: "On our right, 
and shortly below Fredericksburg their whole army could, and 
a large portion did, deploy on the south side of the river, in 
almost perfect security from our artillery ; at the same time, be- 



13 1 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 143 

ino- under cover of their artillery, on the Stafford (north) side, 
they were nearly as secure from an attack by our nifantry. 

General Burnside had six bridges over the river, affording 
ample means for communication. The river is narrow but deep, 
and the rebels having no pontoons could not have pursued us 
nor reached our artiUerv- As Stonewall Jackson pomted out, 
'•even if they defeated Burnside the position would not liable 
them to pursue, and their victory would be fruitless." The 
entire plain was favorable to Burnside for defense. The rebel 
ricvht twice attempted a counter attack upon Franklin, and 
thereby demonstrated by their most skillful officer, with troops 
believed to be invincible, that it was impossible to successfully 
assail the Union column, although lying upon the plain and 
without earthworks or other ordinary means of protection, 
which should have been provided. 

The rebel general. Ransom, who commanded a division on 
the point of attJck by our right, in his report of the battle, says : 
"Before the town there were not engaged, all told, on our part, 
more than 5,000 men. It is impossible to estimate exactly the 
numbers of the enemy who were opposed to us. It is certain that 
all of Sumner's Grand Division and Hooker's was brought 
against the position, among them may be especially named the 
divisions of Hancock and Whipple, the Irish Brigade, and the 
whole of the Regular Infantry of the old United States Army 
the latter under Svkes." (Sykes did not make an assault and 
this reference is evidently to Humphrey's Division.) No other 
part of the rebel left was assaulted except the one point, pro- 
bably not over a half mile in length, and it is probably true that 
there were not over 5,000 of the enemy engaged behind those 
stone walls, but our assaults were made by brigades— probably 
not 5 000 in numbers. The total losses of killed, wounded and 
missing, on the Union side, were : Killed, officers, 124; 
privates, 1,160; wounded, officers, 654; privates, 8,946; miss- 
ing, officers, 20; privates, 1,749; total, 12,653. 

On the rebel side were reported, killed, 458; severely 
wounded, 3,743 ; missing, not given. General Lee states that in 
the report of his losses the number of slightly wounded was 
unusuallv large and they were omitted in this estimate. It is 
also reported that the total of the neemy engaged, on the right 
and left was not over 20,000. The principal losses on our side 
occurred before the stone wall, on the right, and on the rebel 
side in the two assaults by Stonewall Jackson on our left, and 
by Meade's assault. In proportion to the numbers engaged it 
will be seen the disparity in losses is not great. There were 



144 HISTORY OF THE 

probably not more than 5,000 of the enemy engaged on our 
right ; and it is probable there were at no time more than that 
unmber in our assaulting columns, as they were made succes- 
sively upon the same ground by brigades. They fought under 
cover, and our column upon the open plain, subjected to the 
direct and enfilading batteries of their line from opposite Fal- 
mouth to Deep Run. 

The following is President Lincoln's address to the Army : 

Washington, Dec. 22, 1862. 
To the Army of the Potomac : 

I have just read your commanding general's report of the 
battle of Fredericksburg. Although yoii were not successful, 
the attempt was not an error, nor the failure other than an acci- 
dent. The courage with which you, on an open field, main- 
tained the contest against an entrenched foe, and the consum- 
mate skill and success with which you crossed and recrossed 
the river, in the face of the enemy, show that you possess all 
the qualities of a great army which will yet give victory to the 
cause of the country and of popular government. 

Condoling with the mourners for the dead and sympathiz- 
ing with the wounded, I congratulate you that the number of 
both is comparatively so small. 

I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks of the 
nation. A. Lincoln. 

When the final history of the war shall be written it will 
doubtless record as a fact that no more brilliant and successful 
fighting upon a field of battle was done than that by General 
Meade's troops on the Union left. Against overwhelming- 
numbers, protecting their own flanks, they went to the rear of 
Stonewall Jackson's corps, where the general-in-chief wished 
them to go. It was the key to the stronghold. They held it 
until their own ammunition, and of their dead also, was ex- 
hausted, then, unsupported, after repeated appeals for aid, they 
hopelessly fell back — hopeless because they saw that more than 
100,000 soldiers were in supporting distance and were not 
brought to their aid. 

Neither do the annals of the war record any similar event 
to that of the successive charges upon the right. The general- 
in-chief directed the height to be carried. The grand division 
commander directed how it was to be done — an assault "by di- 
vision, in columns of brigades." There probably was not a 
more unequal contest upon any of our great battlefields than 
that of those brigades who, under the concentrated fire of the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 145 

enemy's batteries, were ordered to approach by the flank and 
then deploy upon an open plain and charge upon an enemy en- 
trenched, stronger in numbers than the assaulting column! 
And this was repeated without change, by the troops under the 
division commanders of French, Hancock and Howard, under 
Couch ; Griffin and Humphrey, under Butterfield ; Sturgis and 
Getty, under Wilcox ; two or three brigades in each division, 
upon the same ground, upon the same point in the enemy's line. 
There was no fault found in the troops, as the generals testifv 
to their matchless service and splendid spirit ; but the "accident" 
of a want of understanding among our commanders must ac- 
count for the Union repulse at the battle of Fredericksburg. 

[ Extract from the Mifflinburg Telegraph, Jan. 3, 1896.] 

My Dear Captain Orwig's war story puts me in mind of 
one thing which he is too kind-hearted to tell, and, to pass the 
time, I may as well tell it, for it was the cause of the Uniou de- 
feat at Fredericksburg. A joke, you know, is appreciated by 
"the boys." Being very young for hard service, the bad 
weather encountered on the tramp from Sharpsburg, Md., to 
Fredericksburg, and the consequent heavy luggage tuckered 
this ere chile out several days' march this side of the city of de- 
struction. The last day I was helped into a mule or ox cart, T 
don't remember much' about it, and how long or how I don't 
know, but I know I was unloaded in the evening at a big tent m 
which I laid about a week. Then we, for there were many 
sick there, were moved a mile nearer to Falmouth. How it 
was done I don't know, but I was again put in a tent with 
about twenty others, a number of whom died while I was m. 
I could not get up, but was conscious all the time there. Heard 
the battle all through, being only a mile away. All my sorroAv 
was on account of^my absence from my command and I cried 
it over and over. And, do vou see the joke now? The battle was 
lost, perhaps, because I was not there. I had almost run away 
from home and had dragged my tired carcass wuhm a few 
miles of the fight and then had to miss it. Boy that I was, I 
knew that battle, with all its horrors, had to be done and done 
to the finish if the Union which I so loved was to be restored. 
Therefore my grief over my inability to get there. You see if 
I had been there, the result might have been different. I might 
have died in the effort to make it different, anyhow, but I guess 
I wasn't worthy to. Emanuel Snyder, my dear messmate, who 
bought a new suit of clothes just before the battle, and who 
was so ingloriously shot through the heart when the battle was 
practically over, also was on a sick pass, just as I was. A day's 



146 HISTORY OF THE 

march from the city he got ahead of our command clear down 
to the river, and when he found us again he said there was a 
bad place down there; the rebs were fortifying and had big 
guns on the hill. I can't forget his seriousness about the mat- 
ter. Although he smiled over it he shrugged his shoulders very 
significantly, poor boy. By and by, after six long weeks, I got 
onto my feet again, while they still refused to carry me, but, 
by the kind care of Captain Orwig, Comrade Jacob Hower and 
others, I came out all right and went through Burnside's "Stick 
in the Mud" and Chancellorsville without missing a duty. As 
we approached the river on the march to Chancellorsville my 
command was halted about thirty minutes, likely to cool off be- 
fore fording the river. To avoid the risk of getting sick of ly- 
ing in wet clothes, I pulled off my clothes and tied them on my 
knapsack and waded through the river, the water being cold and 
four feet deep. When over I rubbed myself thoroughly and 
jerked my clothes on, which left me better, rather than worse. 
Fortunately, the command came over, too. It might have w^ent 
elsewhere and then there would have been a time. The small 
boys could not wade the river and many were carried over on 
the officers' horses and otherwise. But I must not anticipate 
the captain. But tell us not that those boys were anything but 
patriots. I don't believe that in our entire company of nearly 
a hundred, there were six, if any, that were not equally eager to 
serve effectually. Some even held prayer meetings in which 
they besought the Lord to enable them to do their duty and to 
bless our armies. I know-, too, that many prayed privately for 
strength to do their part and for the Lord to prompt the peo- 
ple to stand by the government. Of course, not all companies 
were alike, but T believe that the same spirit pervaded the mass 
of the troops. That was about thirty-five years ago, but it is all 
very real to me now, really more clear to me now we know the 
reasons and the circumstances. G. 

When we returned to our camp we found some confusion, 
occasioned by the approach of Siegel's Reserve Division, which 
encamped on the grounds occupied in part by our corps. A 
slight change was made in the camp of the T3ist and we were 
taken into a thick pine forest, so dense that the regiment could 
not march by the flank, but a line was marked out and the men 
stacked arms as best they could ; but in an incredibly short time 
a camp and parade ground had been cleared and better and 
more cozy quarters were established. In pursuance to the or- 
ders of the corps commander. General Butterfield, every precau- 



isrst PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



147 



tion was taken to maintain discipline and guard against the 
enemy, as will be seen by the following order : 

Headquarters Fifth Army Corps, 
December i6, 1862. 
Circular: The divisions of this corps will encamp on or 

near their old camps. , ^. . . •,, 

General Griffin and General Humphrey s Divisions will 

encamp in the woods slightly in the rear of the old positions 

usine their old grounds to enlarge their camps. 

Inspections will be made at once and all men charged with 

arms and equipments abandoned or lost without proper per- 

missiom ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^p^ ^.^j ^^_, ^^l^gj^ tQ ^11 all deficiencies in 

supplies, equipments, etc. _ . 

Full and accurate returns will be sent in at once covering 
all losses and returns of those present for duty. 

The picket lines will be re-established as at our previous 

""^"'^General Griffin will detail 1,000 men, with a proper com- 
plement of officers additional, to take the ground to-night, to be 
relieved to-morrow. 

Colonel Barnes will act as general of our posts and report 
at these headquarters for orders. 

Headquarters will be at the Henry house. General 
Siegel's cavalrv are at Hartwood and his forces between l^al- 
mouth and Stafford Court House. 
By command of 

Brigadier General Butterfield. 

(Signed) H. W. Perkins, A. A. A. Gen. 

Before we left this camp that dense forest was cleared 
awav. onlv such trees being preserved as were retamed for or- 
namental purposes about headquarters of officers, hospitals, etc 
At first the choppers were exceedingly extravagant, then they 
began to cut off stumps and finally the roots were eagerly dug 
out for fuel, and later teams and details were sent out for miles 
to gather the necessary fuel for the camps. I visited those 
grounds twentv years later, when they were so thickly wooded 
again that it was with difficulty we could trace the location, 
and some parts of it had been cut and piled for cord wood. 

Lieut. Robert H. Maxwell, of Company H, who had been ill 
in camp for some time, died at the hospital, near Falmouth, on 
the I ith of December, just as his comrades were going into tUe 
battle. The circumstances made the death of this gallant 



148 HISTORY OF THE 

young officer exceptionally sad. But the monster' disease 
claimed its victim just before his comrades, in the flush of health 
and young manhood, gave up their lives in the thick of the bat- 
tle with their faces to the foe ; and when none of his comrades 
could be present to solace his last hours. 

Some of the soldiers were not given to letter writing, as 
numerous inquiries indicated by the parents and friends at 
home, who wrote anxiously to know of the safety of their sons, 
or friends. A notable instance of this was the visit to Company 
A of Miss Sallie Ruhl, an estimable young lady from the vicin- 
ity of Ray's Church, near Mifflinburg, Pa., to our camp, after 
the battle of Fredericksburg. She was the devoted sister of 
Private Valentine Ruhl. He had nobly performed his duty in 
the stirring events of the active campaigns of the new com- 
mander of the army, but after the battle forgot to write to his 
friends at home. Rumors of his having been killed or wound- 
ed were circulated and the aged parents and his affectionate sis- 
ter were in great distress. She would go to find him ! Few 
citizens were permitted to visit the army from the North when 
actively engaged in campaigns, but this brave and fearless 
young lady undertook the perilous journey imattended and suc- 
ceeded. She received passes at Washington and after leaving 
that point was almost the only lady to be found in that great, 
and sometimes rough and boisterous throng of army officers 
and men who thronged the trains and transports, to and from 
the front down on the old Virginia battlefields. She reached 
our camp safely, and to the credit of those sometimes rough 
soldiers, without incident or disagreeable adventure. She 
found her brother unharmed and blissfully ignorant of the un- 
necessary anxiety he had caused by his negligence. We gave 
her and the brother a tent attached to our headquarters, and 
every one seemed to show such courteous and pleasing attention 
and upon all occasions such respectful consideration that the 
otherwise embarrassing circumstances were overcome and she 
was made to feel at home and get inexpressible pleasure and 
satisfaction out of her hazardous journey to the army. Com- 
pany A was the envied centre of the social circle and events of 
the 131st. Our "calls" and "teas" and "cards" and "wines" in 
the wealth of their pleasures, were just as real, and the eventful 
times and surroundings conspired to make them unique and al- 
together most rare and pleasurable innovations, in striking con- 
trast to the more pretentious social events in our cities and towns 
at home. She was gallantlv escorted to the picket lines, to the 
river to see the city and rebels in their camp beyond; she wit- 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 149 

nessed the drilling of regiments, brigades and divisions ; she 
was shown a grand review of the army, the hospitals and the 
camps of the men, and she expressed her fearlessness and en- 
joyment of it all as only a brave and patriotic young Union 
county lady could. She was among the few who had such an 
experience, and it served her well in the future, in her zeal and 
devotion to our cause in every good work at home in aid and 
support of the boys whom she knew were not only brave, but 
tender and devoted and unforgetful of the loved ones at home. 
In this good work she was most zealous and untiring, as were 
all the ladies of good old Union county. 

Later on we were honored by visits from many other citi- 
zens of Union county, among whom were William Whitmer, 
Mark Halfpenny and John Diehl. We recall an interesting 
ride in an ambulance with Captain Hassenplug, Major W. R. 
Foster and others of the Fifty-first who accompanied some of 
these friends to the front lines. There was a little conspiracy 
entered into to test the nerves of some of the non-combatant vis- 
itors, and the driver was directed to a bluff on the river which 
looked square into a rebel camp and their strong picket line by the 
water's edge. Seemingly unconscious of the presence of an 
enemy we left the carriage and took the party out in full view 
of the rebels. Captain Hassenplug's commanding figure and 
his full dress uniform made him a very conspicuous object, 
and he got quite boisterous in his zeal in denouncing the wicked 
war against "old glory" and the rascally Johnnies and their 
friends. Judge Whitmer was observed to be falling just a 
little behind, and kept a puzzling look at the mouths of the 
somewhat angry looking batteries and a lot of ragged lookmg 
fellows with guns in their hands not far off. He whispered some- 
thing to the captain, who, more violently than ever, kept pour- 
ing out his wrath and told him, "Yes, they are rebels," and fair- 
ly yelled his defiance of them and their guns, when the judge 
began to beg that as "they could see that he was an officer they 
might shoot!" The captain was as gleeful as a kitten and en- 
joyed the ruse, but he was too considerate to go farther, and 
every attention was shown our guests, to whose fortitude and 
heroism upon the front lines the party will ever most cheerfully 
attest. 

The locality we were then visiting had other than army 
associations of interest to the visitors, and is rich in landmarks 
and traditions, colonial and revolutionary. Falmouth, now 
only a hamlet, was once a thriving town and its merchants 
furnished exchange on England to Baltimore, and the "stamp 



150 HISTORY OF IHE 

act" gathered large returns from the rich business men of the 
vicinity. Capt. John Smith, in 1608, ascended the river to the 
falls just above where we took a look at the rebels, and found a 
"wigwam" of the native Rappahannocks. The old city was 
visited by Dickens, who in his "American Notes," called it a 
"iinished town." It was laid out in 1727 and named after 
Frederick, son of George I. George Washington's early life 
was spent here. The home of his father and mother was a 
little farther down, on our side of the river, below the burned 
railroad bridge. It was here the parson fiddler and biographer, 
Weems, located the exploits of little George — the hatchet and 
cherry tree story, and his school days and other wondrous ex- 
periences. By the way, it was Weems' "Life of Washington" 
which was the first book ever owned by the other great Presi- 
dent of his country — Abraham Lincoln. No doubt his heart 
was fired to a loftier manhood by the recital of the heroic deeds 
and youthful exploits of the father of his comitry. The heights 
beyond could be seen where the battle was fought, and on the 
plain the locality of the unfinished Mary Washington monu- 
ment. The members of the 131st will remember having been 
there during the battle, and many visited the little cemetery. It 
was all scarred by bullets and the marks of long neglect and de- 
cay. The monument was originally proposed by the citizens 
of Fredericksburg, but they failed to secure the means to com- 
plete it. A New York merchant, Silas E. Barrass, then volun- 
teered to complete it and proceeded as far as we found it, when 
he also failed and it was vmfinished. It cost $10,000 and was 
made of uncarved Carara marble blocks enclosing a "filler" of 
cemented granite stones. It was twelve feet square at the base, 
and ten feet at the top, with tablets for inscriptions, which were 
never placed upon them. Above these tablets small fluted col- 
umns, two on each side, extended to the top. The height was 
twenty-five feet. A shaft twenty feetlongand four feet at the base, 
lay half embedded a few yards away. When the corner stone 
was laid, with imposing ceremonies, in 1832, President Jackson 
was there with an old-time military display. After the war the 
monument was completed by an appropriation from Congress. 

Lodge No. 4 of the Masonic fraternity, of Fredericksburg, 
is famous. It was organized in 1735 and the same Bible is 
still in use which served on that occasion. This lodge appro- 
priated and secured the sum of $5,000 and engaged the cele- 
brated sculptor, Hiram Powers, to execute a statue of Washing- 
ton. It was duly completed at Florence and arrived just as the 
war for disunion was entered upon, when it was sent to Rich- 
mond for safety and was there destroyed by fire. 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 151 

Marye's Hei^-hts is now the beautiful National Cemetery, 
where the dead of the Union soldiers who fell in the battle, as 
well as in the battles of ChancellorsviUe, the Wilderness and 
Spottsylvania, and throughout the vicinity, are gathered, num- 
being 15,257, of these 2,487 are known and 12,770 sleep m these 
beautiful and well-cared-for grounds "unknown." 

It will be interesting to remember that the Bell and Everett 
Presidential ticket was successful in Fredericksburg m i860. 
At the State election for a convention the Unionists were m the 
majority and their delegate was the Hon. John L. Marye, Sr. 
But when the State seceded the great bulk of the people became 
the most ardent and devoted followers of the "bad cause. 
There, as elsewhere throughout the south, they became intoler- 
ant and no Union man nor woman was permitted to live peace- 
ably among them. The flight of the non-combatants from the 
city in December, 1862, has been depicted as among the most 
touching war incidents, and their passage through the snow, 
through and beyond the lines of Lee's army, was used to 'tire 
the southern heart" during the battle. But even more touching 
than this was the exodus of the Union families who were driven 
from their homes in 1861, when, on a given day, they were com- 
pelled to leave the city for the North, for the crime of being 
loyal to the old flag. 

Moncure D. Conway contributed an article ioih^Magazine 
of American History, Volume 17, although tainted with a bit- 
terness against General Burnside, is an interesting collection of 
the materials of history. Referring to the ground upon which 
the right wing of the army fought, he says : "Between his army 
and Marye's Heights there is "Sandy bottom," an ancient river 
bed, where is located "Liberty," the suburb of free negroes, a 
place more suitable than any engineering could have contrived 
for the grave of an army. Into that grave his soldiers were 
falling for eight hours. Five times they were beaten back ; five 
times'they rallied. At last the heaviest column of assault was 
organized by General Butterfield, headed by General Hum- 
phrey's Division, and it was overwhelmed within sixty paces of 
the volcano's mouth of flame." 

This author may have thought the free negro suburb ^ fit- 
ting place for the grave of the Union army, but I quote it as a 
sample of the current stories of the battle. I visited this "su- 
burb" in 1883. twenty years after the battle, then largely a 
burial place for negroes— all free. It was a revolting spectacle. 
A citizen was with me, who, in reply to my inquiries, said that 
it was true that the graves to which I had called his attention 



152 HISTORY OF THE 

had evidently been opened by dogs and the bodies devoured. 
A little further up was the little cemetery where rested the re- 
mains of Mary, the mother of Washington, and a little beyond, 
on the other side, on Marye's Heights, was the National 
necropolis. Mr. Conway might have given another point to 
the moral if he had added that one was a distinctively Fred- 
ericksburg product and the two others were not. 

I also visited the city and traced the lines of our battle on 
the right. Little change had taken place in the older portions 
of the city, but other localities showed great improvement. I 
stood upon the bridge at Hanover street, from which the planks 
had been removed, and our troops crossed on the ties. The 
enemy's guns played upon that point from many batteries on 
the heights, and our solid columns were torn by their shells. I 
searched for the spot where we buried Snyder, but failed to find 
any trace of graves there. Of course all these had been 
gathered into the National cemetery. I looked over the line of 
the ravine extending towards the railroad station, where nearly 
all the attacking columns deployed to charge upon the stone 
walls. A few new streets had been opened through the battle- 
field and a few new houses erected, but all else appeared just as 
it was twenty years ago, except that the armies were absent. A 
resident in one of the clump of houses, which were occupied by 
Hancock's troops, pointed out many events of the battle. His 
family had remained during the battle, and were uninjured. 
His house still bore many marks of the storm of battle. He 
was a typical unreconstructed rebel, and significantly summed 
up all his woes with the remark : "And it was all only for the 
nigger!" 

General Allabach paced off the distance from the point 
which he claimed his troops had reached, to the road or "stone 
wall" and declared we had approached to within twenty paces 
of the wall upon our last charge. We passed over the walls 
and ascended the heights to the Marye house and looked down 
upon the grovmd over which our assaults had been made. I 
was struck with the then apparent strength of the point against 
which all our strength was spent, as well as the apparent oppor- 
tunity for flanking the telegraph road, which at this point was 
the sunken road, or stone wall, mentioned in all the accounts of 
the battle. In the rear of this first line was favorable ground 
for battle, and I was more than ever convinced that General 
Burnside had wisely chosen this point of attack, but that the 
battle, as fought, was in no sense what he had contemplated, 
but grew out of a want of a common purpose by his officers. I 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



153 



noticed that the batteries of Captains Hazard and Frank, which 
were taken up with General Humphrey's assault, could have as 
safely been taken in several hundred yards further up, and then 
they would have been in a position to enfilade the stone walls. 
It seemed to me that if they had been there Humphrey s Di- 
vision would have carried the heights, and the Secondand Ninth 
corps Iving upon their arms, and all their batteries behind them 
thev could have held the line against all the assaults Lee could 
have made. And Franklin's left was in a splendid position to 
fall on and seal the victory. General Longstreet, m his Cen- 
tury articles, says: "It would have been, to say the least, very 
hazardous to give a counter attack, the Federal position being 
about as strong as ours. * * * Their batteries on Stafford 
heiohts were effectively posted to protect their troops against 
our" advance, and Franklin would have been in good position 
against attack on next day." 

One standing at General Lee's headquarters, on Lee's Hill, 
can readily see whv the rebel army did not attempt to fall upon 
the Union armv- 'it was the only position Lee could hope to 
maintain If compelled to relinquish it, retreat to one of his 
fortified fields further south was the only alternative. Lee 
therefore wisely reserved all his strength to hold his position. 
He did not know that Burnside had really made his mam attack, 
and he confidently expected it to be made next day. This is the 
true reason why he did not at any time permit his troops to 
emerge from their fortified lines. This view he expresses in 
his report of the battle, as will be seen from the following ex- 
tract : 

"The attacks on the 13th had been so easily repulsed, and 
by so small a part of our army (20,000 engaged), which, m 
view of the magnitude of his preparations and the extent of his 
forces, seemed to be comparatively insignificant. Believmg, 
therefore, that he would attack us, it was not deemed expedient 
to lose the advantage of our position and expose the troops to 
the fire of his inaccessible batteries beyond the river, by advanc- 
ing against him." 

The distinguished correspondent, Albert D. Richardson, of 
the NeiiJ York Tribune, paid this tribute to the soldiers of the 
Army of the Potomac, after they returned to their camp : 

"The general tone of the army is good ; far better than 
might be expected. There is regret for the failure, sympathy 
for the wounded, mourning for our honored dead, but I find lit- 
tle discouragement and no demoralization. This is largely ow- 
ing to the splendid conduct of our troops, and the men are hope- 



154 HISTORY OF THE 

ful because there are few of the jealousies and heart burnings 
among them. The concurrence of testimony is universal, that 
our men in every trial did better than ever before, and made 
good their claim to being the best troops in the world. We 
have had victories without merit, for this was a defeat without 
dishonor. In many respects — in all respects but the failure of 
its vital object — the battle of Fredericksburg was the finest 
thing of tile war. Laying the bridges, pushing the army 
across, withdrawing it successfully, all were splendidly done, 
and redound alike to the skill of the general and the heroism of 
the troops." The men who crossed the river in open boats, un- 
der the merciless storm of bullets and shell, rained upon them 
by a hidden foe ; Meade's men, who steadily forged their way 
through the lines of Stonewall Jackson's Corps, through a path 
of murderous batteries and volcanoes of fire and lead from vet- 
eran infantry columns, and found the envied point — the road in 
Lee's rear; the successive assaults on Marye's Heights, where 
brigade after brigade, under the most trying conditions known 
in warfare, charged upon a more numerous and entrenched foe, 
and under the concentric fire of the guns of the Army of North- 
ern Virginia, all these were as valorous deeds as ever lit up the 
story of "the glory we call Greece and the grandeur we call 
Rome." 

Li his Life of Lincoln, Isaac N. Arnold made the President 
say : "With all his failings as a soldier, McClellan is a pleasant 
and scholarly gentleman. He is an admirable engineer, but he 
seems to have a special talent for a stationary engine." 

General Burnside, during his brief command, exhibited 
the exact opposite to this characteristic. He believed that the 
Army of the Potomac should be utilized and a continuous and 
aggressive war made upon Lee and his army, and the rebel 
capital was his objective point. Thus, by a continued attrition, 
the armies of the Confederacy would be worn out, and in the 
end it would be an economy in life and treasure. President 
Lincoln and the War Department took this view, and General 
Burnside seemed to act upon the theory. 

THE WAR OF OUR GENERALS. 

The return of the army to its old camps was followed by 
an unrelenting warfare upon its commander, which extended 
throughout the country, and had a depressing effect. The 
enemies of the administration and of Congress were stimulated 
to the greatest activity, and the opponents of the war made 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 155 

themselves bold to discourage enlistments and resist the draft- 
ins- Their influence reached to the army and desertions were 
encouraged and discontent was fomented. To this the severity 
of the season contributed and the active services had largely in- 
creased sickness, so that the most discouraging conditions were 
confronting the zealous and enthusiastic commander Every 
effort waslxit forth to offset all these discouragements The 
soldiers were kept busy in all the duties o the camp, and drill- 
ino- picketing and inspectious were multiplied with good ettect. 
The enemies of the general were busy not only m plottmg 
against him but in magnifying the evils and demoralization 
which existed, for the evident purpose of his discomfort. 

Thanksgiving day had found the army in battle array for a 
campaign. Now^he expectations of our Christmas were ex- 
tremely likely to be interrupted by a renewal of that struggle, 
and the notes of preparation went on. The sick from the hos- 
pitals who had recovered were returned to the army. No fur- 
loughs were granted and the expectation was becoming general 
tha? a new movement was about to be inaugurated. 

The friends at home were mindful of their boys in blue and 
boxes in endless variety and in astonishing numbers were sent, 
but the inexorable demands and necessities of the expected re- 
newal of active hostilities almost entirely excluded visitors and 
appropriated all the means of transportation, so that thousands 
of those boxes, so kindly provided, were long delayed and many 
of them had to be destroyed. I remember seeing a pile of them, 
seemingly long and high as a freight train, all destroyed by fire. 
It was^mpossible to deliver them. Officers m charge hastily 
examined them, assorted the non-perishable and forwarded 
such and committed the rest to the flames, as the most practical 
disposal of the noxious pile. 

The members of Companv A, and others of the regiment, 
however, were the happy recipients of several large boxes con- 
taining a great variety of gifts, but mainly choice edibles m- 
cluding a plentiful supply of turkey. Our official household 
was not forgotten and the spread of that day, and the joyous 
occasion, will probably not fade from the memory of any one 
present, and the official household did not forget all the mem- 
bers of the company. 

The weather, thus far, had been favorable to active cam- 
paigning and rumors began to spread of an advance. 



156 HISTORY OF THE 

It transpired that General Burnside had planned another 
immediate advance on Richmond, the army to move on Decem- 
ber 30. The plan was to make a feint above Fredericksburg, 
but the army to cross below and turn the rebel stronghold by a 
flank movement, while all the cavalry would endeavor to reach 
his rear by a raid from Kelly's ford. 

This second plan had scarcely been perfected when it was 
discovered that all its details had been made known to the 
rebels, and it was abandoned. 



A 



131st PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 157 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE "MUDDY MARCH." 

THIRD effort was now determined upon, with every 
posed to cross the Rappahannock at Banks' ford and 
precaution against betrayal. General Burnside pro- 
T United States ford, about six miles above Falmouth, and thus 
compel the evacuation of Fredericksburg and force Lee to battle 
upon the open country lying south of Chancellorsville. Ihe 
-u-my was put in motion and the crossing of the river was to 
^ake place on the night of January 20. This was the "muddy 
march " The men were eager for the contest and did not share, 
to any great extent, in the discontent among the officers. But 
the arniy had scarcely been put in motion when a cold and piti- 
less rain storm set in and literally swamped the moving columns 
in a sea of mud. Artillerv and army wagons could scarcely be 
moved. The cavalry floundered in the bottomless fields and the 
infantrv waded in mud and water knee deep, and the endless 
splash, 'splash, as we marched, fell like the rain upon the just 
and the unjust, until all were covered from head to foot, hke the 
horses and wagons, with a thick coat of A'lrginia mud. ihe 
advance columns had promptly reached the places assigned 
them, where thev awaited the coming of the mam army, but 
the main armv did not come. It was stuck in the mud. 1 well 
remember the night we reached our place in the line. It was 
in a dense woods, and the rain continued. The order to halt 
was literallv obeved. Everything and everybody just stopped. 
No line could be found to stack arms. No fires were to be 
lighted, and no coffee could be prepared. Trees and all the 
most available spots were at once appropriated for such rest 
and sleep as could be forced from such surroundings. 

Lieutenants Kepler and Fichthorn prepared our blankets ; 
we rolled them about us, placing a rubber over us, and were 
soon asleep. What was a steadv cold ram now became a 
veritalile downpour, and our sweet slumbers were ruthlessly in- 
terrupted. It appears our bodies dammed the water and 
Fichthorn, who was on the upper side, found it fall- 
ing in all over him. when he suddenly cried out, "Cap- 
tain give me vour hand"— at the same time taking it 
and'thrusting it in the water. It was a rude awakening and 
T thought of Lee's cavalry and Stonewall Jackson s flankers 
l)ut soon realized what was the situation, and we got out of 
that ; our blankets now so wet and muddy that to carry them 



158 HISTORY OF THE 

was out of the question, so we left that bed and board, you will 
agree, having just cause and provocation. There was Egyptian 
darkness ; one could not see a hand before his face. We backed 
up against trees, hoping for some shelter, but all sheltering 
trees were occupied. We groped about to find a wagon, which 
happy thought encouraged us until we stumbled about among 
a lot of picketed horses, as distressed as we were, and stood so 
still we could not know of their presence until we ran against 
them. We found wagons — but the boys who did not try to 
sleep had not left standing room. We became separated and I 
finally hung my head inward, under the scoop of a wagon cover, 
standing upon the tongue or pole of the wagon, where the pro- 
verbial wisdom of the ostrich and the sheep that are content 
with shelter for the head, seemed to command such wisdom and 
respectful consideration that had never before suggested itself. 
It was an awful night. The next day we floundered about in 
the mud. The rebels on the other side discovered our advanced 
positions, and the utter impossibility for a move upon either 
side, put them upon good terms. The rebels got up an enor- 
mous sign and put it up in full view of our pickets, bearing this 
inscription, "Stuck in the mud." But the Army of the Po- 
tomac proved its invincible spirit, which no disaster could de- 
stroy. They were ready to respond to every call, and the earn- 
estness and courage of General Burnside was winning the ut- 
most good will of the army. It was better to try and fail, than 
to waste their lives and strength in inglorious inaction. 

But our commander seemed to be as ill-starred as was the 
Army of the Potomac. He received an order from the Presi- 
dent directing him not to make another attack without his or- 
ders. The army was therefore directed to return to its recent 
camp, and it slowly, dejectedly, emerged from the mire and was 
soon in its normal condition in the cozy quarters of the camp 
about Fredericksburg. And the "Muddy March" went upon 
the pages of history. 

GEN. BURNSIDE RESIGNS, AND GEN. HOOKER IS APPOINTED. 

It transpired that a number of officers, some of them of 
high rank, had been fomenting discord and had made clan- 
destine reports to the President and Secretary of War at Wash- 
ington. Generals Franklin and W. F. Smith, without the 
knowledge of General Burnside, went to Washington and pre- 
sented a joint letter to the President, expressing the belief that 
General Burnside's plan of campaign could not succeed, and 
recommended, substantially, that this line should be abandoned 
and the army be again sent to the James river. The President 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



159 



replied that they were only suggesting a plan fraught with the 
"old difficulty," but it was in view of the want of harmony that 
he had called a halt upon the army. To General Franklm he 
stated that his action was a matter of astonishment, as he had 
previously distinctly advised bringing the army away from the 
Peninsula, under McClellan. 

General Burnside now made a hurried trip to Washington 
It was plain that those divisive and disgraceful quarrels could 
not longer be permitted. The President again must act be- 
tween his warring generals. He chose to consider his im- 
perilled country alone. General Burnside had prepared an 
irder naming Generals Hooker, Brooks (not Brooke), and 
Newton for ignominious dismissal, and Genera s Franklin, W. 
F Smith, Cochran and Ferrero, and Lieut. Col. J W^ Taylor, 
were to be relieved from duty in the Army of the Potomac. 
The name of General Ferrero was withdrawn, as General burn- 
side stated it had been placed there under a misapprehension. 
It was another grave emergency not unlike that which con- 
fronted the President when McClellan's and Pope s armies met 
at Washington. There was no doubt of the right to issue the 
order bv General Burnside, but the President was bound to use 
the means at hand to carry on the war and refused to be a party 
to either side of pettv quarrels. He said as much to General Bum- 
side whose action, in the main,he warmly commended.buthedid 
not wish to dispense with the services of the men who, how- 
ever much mistaken, were still patriotic and were willing to 
serve their country, which needed their services He would 
not listen to General Burnside's ofifer to resign, for the same 
reason, but, on the 26th of January, gave him a separate com- 
mand placed Hooker in command of the Army of the Potomac 
and relieved Generals Franklin and Sumner (the latter at his 
own request). 

The patriotism and soldierly qualities of General Burnside 
were put to a most severe test, but he proved himself equal to 
the ordeal and submitted to the will of the President. <^eneral 
Hooker was appointed l)ecause he was the senior general othcer 
to whom the the President addressed the following somewhat 
equivocal, but significant letter : 

Executive Mansion, 
WASinNC.TON, D. C, Jan. .26, 1863. 
Maj. Gen. Hooker : 

General- I have placed vou at the head of the Army of 
the Potomac. Of course, I have done this upon what appears 
to me to be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to 



MO. HISTORY OF THE 

know that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite 
satisfied with you. I beheve you to be a brave and skillful sol- 
dier, which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix 
politics with your profession, in which you are right. You 
have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an in- 
dispensable, quality. You are ambitious, which, within reason- 
able bounds, does good rather than harm ; but I think that dur- 
ing General Burnside's command of the army, you have taken 
counsel of your own ambition, and thwarted him as much as you 
could, in which you did a great wrong to the country and to a 
most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, 
in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both 
the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course, it 
was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the 
command. Only those generals who gain success can set up 
dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I 
will risk the dictatorship. The government will support you to 
the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it 
has done, or will do, for all commanders. I much fear that the 
spirit you have aided to infuse in the army, of criticising their 
commander and withholding confidence from him, will now turn 
upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. 
Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any 
good out of an army while such a spirit prevails in it. 

And now beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but 
with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us vic- 
tories. Yours very truly, 

A. Lincoln. 

Then General Burnside's brief command, from November 
9 to January 26, 1863, came to an end. "There is no argument 
for the soldier but success ; no wisdom for the man but to ac- 
knowledge defeat and be silent under it." 

The Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War 
made a thorough investigation into the campaigns of General 
Burnside, and more especially in the battle of Fredericksburg. 
The testimony of many officers was taken, including those most 
directly interested, including the grand division commanders, 
Generals Sumner, Hooker and Franklin. To the inquiry — 'Tn 
your judgment, as a military man, were there any mistakes in 
bringing on or conducting the attack upon Fredericksburg," 
General Snmner replied — 'T think not. The general com- 
manding conferred a great deal with me about it. If he made 
a mistake, I made one, too, for I certainly approved the steps, 
one bv one, that he took." General Hooker testified that in his 




CAPT. T. R. JONES, 
Commanding Company C. 



J 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 161 

opinion there were enough troops on the left to have sitcceeded. 
He said : "It has always been my impression that Franklm, 
with his men and my grand division, could have swept every- 
thing before him." To the inquiry concerning the army and 
the efficiency of the men, he said : "I made an attack and such 
an attack as I believe had never been made in this war. The 
head of General Humphrey's column advanced to withm per- 
haps fifteen or twenty yards of the stone wall. There never 
was anvthing more glorious than the behaviour of the men. 
No campaign in the world ever saw a more gallant advance 
than Humphrey's men made there." 

General Franklin conditioned his approval upon our suc- 
cess in crossing, for he thought the enemy could prevent it. 
In reply to the inquiry, "What is the condition of the army as 
to efficiency?" he repfied, "I think it is not demoralized at all. 
A'^ far as my command is concerned, I know it is not." General 
Hunt, chief'of artillery, testified, "My opinion was that if we 
could attack and break the enemy's line on our left, everything 
above that would be compromised and put in danger, and it 
would result in clearing out the whole of their works at once. 
"You think it would have proved a success?" "Without a 
^loiibt,— complete success on our part." General Birney said, 
"Tn my opinion there were sufficient troops on the left, under 
General Franklin, to have carried the whole crest of hills in our 
front." 

General Reynolds said : "If it (the crest of the hill,) had 
been taken and held it would have compelled the enemy to fall 
back." 

General Franklin, in regard to his orders, said he did not 
understand the general attack was to be made and that he did 
not understand \\. to be an order, but a request, to put in his 
whole command in the afternoon, and that he did not do so, be- 
cause he believed it to be too late then. 

General Meade testified : "My division succeded in driv- 
ing the enemy from all his advanced works, breaking through 
hi? lines, and" occupying the heights, piercing his lines entirely, 
and getting into the presence of his reserves. The division on 
mv right (Gibbon) which I had understood was to have ad- 
vanced simultaneously with my own, did not advance until I 
was driven back. Tliat delay enabled the enemy to concentrate 
his forces, and attack me in front and upon both flanks. I had 
penetrated so far that I had no support on either flank., and 
vvns forced to fall back; as I came out General Gibbon's forces 
advanced, and got so far, probably, as the railroad, which was 



162 HISTORY OF THE 

llie enemy's outer line. I think if we had been supported by an 
advance of the whole line, there is every reason to believe we 
would have held our ground. The effect of this would have 
been to have produced the evacuation of the other line of the 
enemy's works in rear of Fredericksburg." 

A number of officers testified that if all the available com- 
mand had been put in the attack would have been successful, 
and that the operations of our right depended, to a very great 
extent, upon the successful operations of the left. 

The committee made the following report : 
"The testimony of all the witnesses before your committee 
proves most conclusively that, had the attack been made upon 
the left, with all the force which General Franklin could have 
used for that purpose, the plan of General Burnside would have 
been completely successful, and our army would have achieved 
a most brilliant victory." 

A vote of censure was passed upon General Franklin by 
the committee. 

It is to the credit of all the officers concerned that in other 
fields they continued their services. That they were brave, 
zealous and meritorious, whatever their shortcomings, and de- 
served well of their countrymen, on many battlefields of the 
war, is established by the most ample and competent testimony. 

Before his departure from the army General Burnside very 
cordially recommended General Humphrey to be a major gen- 
eral, for meritorious services in the battle of Fredericksburg. 
His retirement was very generally regretted and in an earnest, 
short address he took leave of the army and was appointed to a 
separate command, which he maintained with great credit to the 
end of the war. 

General Sumner was given a command in the West, with 
headquarters at St. Louis, but his sudden death took place at his 
home in Syracuse before he entered upon his new field. Gen. 
W. F. Smith subsequently commanded the Eighteenth, and 
General Franklin the Nineteenth Army Corps. The Presi- 
dent's course was thus demonstrated to have been wise and 
politic, and we never were subjected to the same humiliation 
again. 

GENERAL HOOKER IN COMMAND. 

The army received their new chief enthusiastically. Gen- 
eral Hooker was known familiarly as "Fighting Joe." He had 
been with the Army of the Potomac under McClellan from the 
beginning, v^^hich went far to appease the peculiar element 



jSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



163 



which had evinced such bitterness against Pope who was from 
the Western Armv, and Burnside, from the North Carohna 
Department It was now understood that the army would re- 
main in winter quarters; fresh rations of bread and meat were 
issued ; furlough were freely granted to officers and men and an 
era of "ood feeling followed the heartless and cruel bickermgs 
and di "isive strifes of the recent campaigns. The cavalry arrn 
of the service was more freely organized and largely mcreased. 
The o-rand divisions of Burnside were abolished and the army 
was divided into seven infantry corps. The season of prepara- 
tion was continued throughout the winter, when the Army ot 
the Potomac was in a condition to inspire the highest expecta- 
tions. 

General Meade had been appointed to the command of the 
Fifth Corps, by General Burnside, in recognition of his dis- 
tinguished services at Fredericksburg, and General Butterfield 
became the chief of staff to General Hooker. 

On retiring from our corps, General Butterfield issued the 
following very "complimentary order : 

•'Bv the orders of the major general commanding the Army 
of the Potomac. Major General Meade is placed m command of 
the Fifth Army Corps. Duty, not less than inclination, prompts 
the sincere and heartfelt acknowledgement of the devotion to 
dutv the cheerful obedience to orders, and the kindly spirit 
which has been evinced bv the division and subordinate com- 
manders of this corps during the time it has been under mv 
command. Words fail to express my proper appreaation _ ot 
the unparalleled braverv and soldierly qualities exhibited during 
the battle of Fredericksburg, and the operations connected 
therewith." 

General Humphrev also expressed himself in strong terms 
of commendation of the conduct of the officers and men of his 
division. One evening, after the usual dress parade, he m- 
vited all the officers of the 131st Regiment to his headquarters. 
On our arrival there, we were all in line accordmg to our com- 
panies in the regiment, when he began at the head of the line 
bv taking mv hand and, addressing himself to all the officers, 
said that he had called us to come to him to enable him to take 
bv the hand and to express, personally, to each one, his obliga- 
tions and extend his thanks and most earnest congratulations 
for the faithful, fearless and efficient services which they had 
rendered not onlv to him and the division, but to the country, 
upon the field at Fredericksburg. He then passed along the 



164 HISTORY OF THE 

line and took the hand of each one, after which an hour was 
spent in very pleasant social intercourse at division headquar- 
ters. 

Many of the commanding officers of the regiments of the 
division made mention of a number of the line officers for dis- 
tinguished services in that battle. But General Humphrey and 
Colonel Allabach, who commanded the Second Brigade, were 
with the right of the column and therefore the 131st Regiment 
was under their personal observation most of the time. Colonel 
Allabach, in his report of the battle assigned this reason for say- 
ing very little about the movements of his brigade, and Colonel 
Shaut. who was early disabled, made only a very brief report, 
and when his attention having been called to his omission to 
mention the services of any of his officers, replied that he could 
not discriminate, except to mention Lieut. Wm. H. Wolfe, of 
Company E, who gallantly commanded his company after the 
captain had been wounded and the first lieutenant was killed. 

Our season of camp life was, in many respects, little short 
of a continuous campaign against the vigilant enemy on the 
other side of the river, and in the valley. Our picket lines, 
probably, were made up of a stronger force than Generel Wash- 
ington usually had at his command when he fought our battles 
in the Revolution, or that Scott and Taylor had when wrestling 
with Mexico for the acquisition of Texas. The troops in 
camp were required to drill for four hours each day ; large fa- 
tigue details were daily employed in road making and the var- 
ious sanitary and police regulations, which were maintained in 
excellent order. 

Stoneman's Station was during this period our nearest 
railroad station, which, to that portion of the army, rose to the 
dignity and importance of the position which the town main- 
tains to the country. It was a busy railroad running from 
Aquia Creek and Belle Plain to the army, a military road dis- 
tributing troops and supplies from our base of operations. 

The vacancies, occasioned by the death and resignation of 
a number of officers of the regiment, were filled, as requested 
by Colonel Allabach ; except in such instances where irregular 
promotions were recommended : 

January 3, 1863. 

To His Excellency, A. G. Curtin, Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania. 

Sir : I would most respectfully ask that the following pro- 
motions be made in my regiment to fill vacancies caused by 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



165 



death and resignations (companies named according to State 
roster) : 

Sergeant Owen M. Fowler, of Company C, to be first lieu- 
tenant, in place of Joseph L. Reeder, resigned, commission to 
date from November 29, 1862. 

Second Lieut. William H. Wolfe, Company E, to be first 
lieutenant, in place of First Lieut. William A. Bruner, killed in 
action, commission to date from December 13, 1862. 

First Sergt. Lee M. Morton, Company E, to be second 
lieutenant, in place of Second Lieut. Wm. H. Wolfe, promoted, 
commission to date from December 13, 1862. 

First Sergt. Franklin W. Keller, of Company F, to be cap- 
tain of said company, in place of Capt. G. W. Ryan, killed in 
action, commission to date from December 13, 1862. 

Sergt. Martin L. Wagenseller, of Company F, to be sec- 
ond lieutenant, in place of Second Lieut. Jeremiah Snyder, re- 
signed, commission to date from December 13, 1862. 

Second Lieut. De La Green, of Company H, to be first 
lieutenant, in place of R. S. Maxwell, deceased, commission to 
date from December 11, 1862. 

First Sergt. William H. Shoemaker, Company H, to be 
second lieutenant, in place of De La Green, promoted, commis- 
sion to date from December 11, 1862. 

Li the cases where I have asked that sergeants be pro- 
moted over lieutenants, I would respectfully make the following 
statement : 

I have done so only where it was absolutely necessary to the 
efficiency of the company, the sergeants being much better of- 
ficers. 

In the case of Sergeant Keller I would say that he is a 
gallant soldier and is now absent wounded. He is deserving of 
the position. These cases, I think, come under your General 
Order No. 17. I would therefore respectfully ask that the ap- 
pointments be made and commissions sent as early as prac- 
ticable. 

Although commanding the brigade, the appointments as 
asked for the lieutenant-colonel made out at my request. 
I am, sir, very respectfully your obedient servant, 

P. H. Allabach, 

Colonel 131st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

Commanding Brigade. 



166 HISTORY OF THE 

It is needless to say the officers, and their friends, who 
were thus discriminated against bitterly resented the implica- 
tion, and there was much ill feeling aroused. The adjutant 
general of Pennsylvania, however, was instructed to issue com- 
sions to the regular successors, and General Thomas, in a kind 
letter, pointed out the manifest injustice of any other course, 
as other remedies were provided for in cases of alleged in- 
efficiency. 

Notwithstanding the directions of the Governor, one or two 
instances of irregular promotions were effected and left resent- 
ments which were not forgotten. 

George W. Moyer, who joined the company after its or- 
ganization at Harrisburg, and was appointed commissary ser- 
geant, made application for discharge on account of disability 
and his application was approved by General Porter, to date 
from October 25. 

On the 1st of January, 1863, President Lincoln issued the 
proclamation freeing the slaves, as announced just after the 
battle of Antietam, and pledged the full power of the govern- 
ment to maintain their freedom. Thus was consummated the 
greatest event of the war. It is a comforting reflection to re- 
member that we were in the Army of the Republic on that his- 
toric day, and factors in its achievement. All the enemies, and 
a few friends of our country were embittered against this act, 
and it was made the occasion for "firing the southern heart" in 
their efforts to disrupt the government. General Lee was 
moved to join this "hue and cry," and in a letter to the rebel 
secretary of war, James A. Seddon, on the loth of January, 
wrote : 

"In view of the vast increase of the enemy, of the savage 
and brutal policy he has proclaimed, which leaves us no alter- 
native but success or degradation worse than death, if we would 
save the honor of our families from pollution, our social sys- 
tem from destruction, let every effort be made, every means 
employed to fill and maintain the ranks of our armies." 

To do this, "the}^ robbed alike the cradle and the grave." 

The crimes committed against the loyal negroes, and our 
soldiers found fighting with them, by the rebel soldiers and au- 
thorities, in their mad support of a "Confederacy," with human 
slavery for its "corner stone," will forever remain as the darkest 
blot upon the pages of our history. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 167 

"Charley" was our colored servant. He came to us when 
near Washington. He had been a slave, and, whilst he was 
fearless of personal danger arising from his connection with the 
army, he had a fearful dread of captvire, which he associated 
with a life of torture. He was a very faithful caterer. When 
no purchases could be made the official household of Company 
A were never allowed to suffer, if Charley was around, for he 
was also a most successful forager. When we went to Chan- 
cellorsville we lost him. He had made a narrow escape from 
capture, when three rebels overtook him just after he had cap- 
tured a calf, but his tact and diplomacy served him well, and by 
dividing three quarters of the veal and giving a little direction 
to the three rebels, who were themselves in fear of running into 
our lines, he got away, and, as he thought, had also sent them 
directly into the lines of our troops on the river, as he intended 
they should. But the incident alarmed him and visions of the 
prison, slavery or torture and cruel death doubtless led him to 
escape to the free north. 



168 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER IX 

ARMY LIFE ON THE RArPAIIANNOCK. 

THAT memorable period of our military lives upon the 
banks of the Rappahannock, near Fredericksburg, is re- 
plete with incidents which, if spread upon this printed page, 
would be of enduring interest to every member of Company A. 
We can close our eyes and summon a thousand phantoms of 
those days, and pass them before us in dim procession ; but, alas, 
who could write them ? 

Some of them, so well known, can be easily recalled ; but 
the many are harbored in the memories of the individuals who 
were factors in the great drama, and they will disappear as 
these one by one answer to the final roll call and go hence. 

Our cozy camp with its headquarters, the parade ground, 
and our company quarters with their streets between the two 
rows of tents or cabins, or half tent and half cabin, facing the 
company grounds — I can see them now, seemingly as real as 
when we occupied them. I can hear our tall and trusty Orderly 
Sergeant Barnes calling upon "the boys" to "fall in for the 
morning roll call." He needed no book, for the duty had so 
often been performed and each name and place was as familiar 
to him as if he were reading it from a printed page. I can see 
the boys falling out of their cozy bunks, in all sorts of dress and 
dishabille, and can hear, as we sometimes did, a reply as an echo 
from a distant tent, from someone who was not ready, or was 
unwilling to get out, and wanted a "little more sleep and a little 
more slumber." Then the rustling about for breakfast, with all 
the various devices which Yankee ingenuity could contrive or 
extract from the incongruous conditions surrounding them. 
Then the various details going out upon the many calls for pub- 
lic or fatigue duty, for guard mount, for "sick call," and for 
the many demands which were constantly made upon the men. 
Then I can see again the company forming for drill, and four 
hours of this necessary but laborious effort was then required of 
us. It was not a little task, but a most interesting service. 

A cold or wet day kept the unemployed men indoors, where 
an endless variety of means were resorted to for passing the 
long hours away. A fine day left few men indoors. They 
were scattered abroad to every point within bounds of the camp, 
and employed in such a multitude of ways, no one could enumer- 
ate them all. Along the little streams vou would find bathers 



1 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



169 



and washers, for every man was his own laundryman ; and 
anions them it was no micommon sight to find a number dih- 
o-ently making entomological researches, sitting upon stumps or 
stones, with calm complacency. The most numerous groups 
always were found about a deck of cards, anywhere and every- 
where, keeping dull care away and not unfrequently with an 
eye to business by the dexterous manipulations of the papers. 

The announcement of "letters" was an occasion of interest, 
as the most welcome messages from home were distributed from 
corps, division, brigade, regimental and company headquarters. 
The quick messengers with daily papers always created a mo- 
ment of stir and activity as they hurried from camp to camp, 
and those indomitable spirits did not rest short of the outer 
picket lines or the front line in time of battle. 

The daily allovv^ance of rations was drawn and distributed 
and sometimes called out undue rivalry to get the "biggest 
piece." The hour for "dress parade" was usually just before 
night, and was about the last of the greater duties of the day. 
Every member of the company was expected to be in the ranks, 
with 'arms and accoutrements in best possible condition, and in 
full dress. How gaily the several companies filed out of their 
companv grounds and marched to the regimental parade 
grounds ! With what pleasure we recall the genial and efficient 
and lamented Adjutant Pollock as he formed the regiment and 
presented it to the colonel, after having the several reports from 
the first sergeant of "all present or accounted for." Then we 
had "orders" or a brief exercise in the manual of arms. I can 
see our drum major, Henry E. Richter, with his incomparable 
drum corps, and their measured tread and solemn music, as they 
go to the remote end of the line, and then with a livelier step and 
tune hurrv back to their place, as only drummer boys could. I 
can hear "the parade is dismissed" and then see the line break 
up with companies, each gaily marching to their company 
grounds, their day's w^ork being ended. The supper hour was 
a repetition of the breakfast scene and then the amusements and 
diversions of the evening, as various as the tastes and habits of 
men. until "taps" and "lights" out" would leave the camp and 
the army to the faithful vigils of the pickets and the guards, 
and the great army would soon be lost in deep and restful slum- 
ber. Alas, how often to rude awaking for the conflict which 
w^as ever possible. Thus the days and weeks and months and 
the years passed by. 



170 HISTORY OF THE 

PRIVATE DIEHL's GOOD STORIES. 

Comrade H. C. Diehl furnishes the fohowing account of 
his almost tragic death, together with other interesting inci- 
dents : 

"You remember after the battle of Fredericksburg we lay in 
Camp Humphrey. The genial Sturger Charles, of that un- 
matched "Hartleton Mess," was company quartermaster. He 
could slice the meat ration into larger pieces, clear of bone, than 
any one we ever had. Being one of his mess, 1 always drew his 
rations with mine, and I always got a good piece of meat. But 
Sturger was a boy of indomitable activity and so extended his 
labors, especially in the line of a diversion queerly named "draw 
poker," so that he sometimes forgot the quartermaster part of 
his duty, and it came about that he resigned and I. Katherman 
was detailed to fill his place. Isaiah never was a butcher and 
could not cut as large nor so many pieces for our mess, and we 
felt the meat famine. Strolling through camp one day with 
Sturger we passed the store house where great piles of supplies 
were piled up, and on a pile of cracker boxes was lying a sample 
slice of mess pork. I think it was from an extinct species, and 
the original must have weighed about 900 pounds. It was aw- 
ful tempting. I said to Sturger, "Let's put in a requisition for 
that." He replied, "I think my old requisition is good for thal^ 
yjet," and we agreed after sunset to "draw it," which we did. 
Being so rich we proposed to have a jollification and a supper. 
Our frying pans were entirely too small, so I went to your cook, 
Charley, for one of your pans. He gave me your largest one, 
I think, for I remember I had to turn it sidewise to get it 
through the tent door. We fried that pan full six or eight 
times, with crackers, and gathered all the acid vinegar in the 
company and called the boys in to help end the famine, which 
we did. Sturger went to the sutler's for the cigars and I 
washed the pan to return it. Just then I was seized with a pain 
and got fearfully sick. The boys sent for you and when you 
saw me you sent iuuTiedly for the doctor. He said the acid 
vinegar did it. He left two doses of medicine, one to be taken 
at once and the other in fifteen minutes. But I was in great 
pain and fifteen minutes seemed awful long, so down went the 
other dose. I remember I soon got better, but was very weak. 
Next morning I sat up and expectorated blood and then fainted 
away and did not recover for forty-eight hours. Isaiahbrought 
in my morning rations and creeping over my bed to put them 
away he found me cold and black in the face. He 
shook me and thought I was stark dead. You were 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 171 

iust taking the company out to drill when he reported to 
YOU that Diehl was dead. You dismissed them and they 
'crathered around our tent, and you sent for the surgeons, ihe 
top was lifted off our tent and the three doctors came and two 
of them said at once "he is dead," but the youngest detected a 
sio-n of life and looked closer, said, I was not dead, when they 
delrided to perform an operation on me. They sent several of 
the bovs for a stretcher and I was lifted out of my bunk and 
was carried to the regimental hospital. Six men were sent with 
'TiC who o-ave me a vigorous rubbing, and I was enveloped m 
mustard and flannel and things. The surgeons relieved me 
with instruments and soon after I awoke. I did not know what 
had happened, but thought I must have fought over the battle 
of Fredericksburg, from appearances, which I could not de- 
scribe to you. Sick men in their cots were all around me and 
then I recognized the doctors, who stood smiling at me, and 
.nnckly gave me assurance that I was all right and that these 
in'^^ruments were not guns or cannon, and that they had saved 
mv b'fe But from the resuhs of that terrible ordeal I con- 
tracted a disease which I will take to my grave, though I do not 
censure the doctors, for they did all they could do for me. 
(Who was the voung doctor, and where does he live?) 
[Probably Dr. David J. Evans, of San Bernardino, Cal.] 

"Do you know, captain, General Hooker once told me. per- 
sonally, he believed I could almost keep up with a cannon ball, 
for he saw a sample of my speed. Shortly before the Chan- 
cellorsville battle I took a French leave one nice afternoon to 
visit a brother who was in camp over near Falmouth. I was 
nearly back again, when I saw the patrol guards heading for 
me ' I did not want to be taken in and ran at a Nancy Hanks 
gait for our camp. Just then General Hooker, with a 
number of his stafif, came out upon the road and took me by the 
flank I could not evade him and stopping, he wanted to know 
what I was running for. I told him the truth and just then the 
patrol swept down the road, and I begged that he permit me 
to go on into camp. He directed me to stay just there and 
when the guard came up and demanded my pass, the general, 
so kindly, said they should excuse this man, and sent them on. 
Then he inquired where I belonged, and I said "Company A, 
Captain Orwig, i3Tst Pennsylvania Regiment, just over there 
in General Humphrey's Division." ''Ah !" he said, "among the 
best soldiers in the world. Go back to your company, for 1 will 
always excuse a little transgression in view of such an effort as 
you were making to get back to your camp duty," and I put 



172 HISTORY OF THE 

my fingers to my nose, metaphorically, toward the patrol, and 
went on to my quarters as proud as you please. 

"One evening on returning from three day's picket duty, I 
found my father, Mr. Mark Halfpenny and some other friends 
in camp, on a visit to the army. We were all delighted. I took 
father to my quarters, and after speaking to him only about five 
minutes, I excused myself, got the axe and went out to gather 
wood for supper. Some one had just cut down a tree, not very 
far away, and I hurried there and asked the favor for enough 
wood to get supper, as we had visitors. Just then the division 
guards surrounded us and run us all into the guard house. I 
could think of no wrong done and wanted to know why I was 
arrested, and was told that General Humphrey had given orders 
not to cut any more trees that would fall across the camp guard 
lines. I explained, but they would not let me off. Father 
visited me several times that evening and he was unduly 
alarmed for my safety. I requested him to go to your quarters, 
which he did, and I think he staid with you that night and he 
thought that I would get out all right before morning. 

"I thought of various plans of escape and finally proposed 
to the guards at night they should take us up to see General 
Allabach and lay our case before him, who, we believed, would 
intercede for us if he knew our distress. But the guards would 
not hear us. Later we approached the single guard and told 
him our case, and he was a good boy. He said, "If you will 
pledge your honor I will let you go up to see your old colonel, 
but if he refuses will you come back?" We pledged a soldier's 
word, and he let us go. The colonel heard us and then said 
we should remain there until he came back. He was gone quite 
a while, and we and the guard, I suppose, got quite uneasy. 
When the colonel returned he handed us an order for our re- 
lease, and gave us the countersign for the night to get into our 
camp, which we lost no time in doing. 

"Once I was sentenced to be shot. You well remember 
our Chancellorsville campaign. It was near the close of the 
battle ; there was a heavy detail made to build a corduroy road, 
over which to move the artillery. I was in that detail. Captain 
Waream. of Company K, had charge of the men of the 131st. 
The weather and the roads were awful. Just before noon the 
captain sent me with about a dozen of canteens, out about a mile 
for water. Now, a dozen of canteens of water made a boy con- 
siderably top heavy, and it was long after 12 o'clock when I. re- 
turned. There had been a great deal of trouble among the de- 
tail and strict orders had been given not to miss a roll call. I 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 173 

had to pass over where the thick underbrush had been cut out 
which gave the place the appearance of a stubble field. As I 
was walking I feU and struck heavily upon one of these sharp 
brush stubbles, which ran up under the skin, in the mside of 
mv left leg, and gave me a severe wound. I took a piece from 
mv shirt and bandaged it, but when I got back the roll had been 
called, and there were other absentees, who doubtless were 
shirking. I was ordered, with two others, to report to the of- 
ficer in'charge of the general detail and when I got there he had 
our names. ^ The general seemed very angry and charged us 
with shirking duty and said he was going to punish us. He 
drew from his pocket a little diary and said to us, "I am gomg 
to excuse two of you and the third I intend to have court mar- 
tialed and shot." He wrote "excused" on two papers and on 
the other "death." "You will draw lots and the one who gets 
the paper marked 'death' I will shoot, and teach a lesson of obe- 
dience to orders." He handed the papers down to us— he was 
on horseback— and as they drew their papers I could see on each 
one as they drew "excused." I took the last one and on it was 
in cold letters "death." He let the two boys go ; and then turn- 
ing to me he said, "Now, my boy, if you have any reasonable 
excuse for your absence I will hear you." I told him my story 
and showed him my wounded limb, which he said was a bad 
wound, and he did not make an example of me. But that limb 
has caused me much suffering and a great deal of money, yet 
I never was able to get a pension on it. I never could find out 
who that officer was. He would surely recall the circumstance. 
"That night, after we were released from the detail and got 
our arms, we found some troops moving through the woods and 
I stepped out to inquire who they were, "Company B, 131st 
Pennsylvania," was the reply, and I hurried to the front and 
found "my company. They had been in the woods all night, aid- 
ing the batteries and were wet and covered with mud, and were 
on their way to the pontoon bridge to cover the passage. They 
only moved a short way and then were halted, and it kept on 
raining in torrents. I was completely worn out and threw my- 
self down bv a tree to get some rest, throwing my poncho oyer 
me and was soon asleep. Some general came along, leading 
his horse through the darkness and his spurs and sword made 
more noise than a moving battery. He gave me a kick and told 
me to get out of this or I would be captured or shot. He went 
on and I was soon sound asleep again and did not wake up until 
morning, when there was not a soldier in sight. I reached the 
river just as the last battery was getting on the bridge. They 
told me to jump on that cannon and ride it, which I did. I 



174 HISTORY OF THE 

want to say just here that if any dyspeptic wants to be cured he 
will find an unfailing cure by taking a ride upon a cannon across 
a pontoon bridge on a retreat. 

"Did you ever know that Company A had a set of side of- 
ficers — captain and lieutenants? But we had. They confined 
their operations only to the care of bottled goods. Do you re- 
member the big sutler establishment along the railroad between 
Fredericksburg and Aquia Creek? The boys used to make up 
a jack pot and send some one to buy six bottles for $io. When 
I was sent for some I was told they could not sell to me, as they 
could sell only to officers. Well, I thought I would return and be 
promoted. I went to your quarters to see you but I was told 
you were out on the picket line ; but I saw your dress coat hang- 
ing in your tent and the thought occurred that if I put it on, the 
sutler, who was not a critical military man, might pass me as a 
captain, at least as far as a deal on bottled goods was necessary 
at his sutler's stand. It was so. I handed the clerk $io and 
got six bottles. The thing was repeated, sometimes using the 
captain's and sometimes the lieutenant's coat, but the sutler 
never cared about our ranks or how often we were reduced or 
promoted. You will now know how it came about that some- 
times a bottle of whiskey was found at Company A's headquar- 
ters in such a mysterious way. H. C Diehl, 
July 15, 1895. Bloomer, Oklahoma Territory. 

CHANGING CAMPS. 

On the second day of February, 1863, we left camp near 
Potomac Creek and took the new position, nearer Falmouth, and 
which was designated officially as Camp Humphrey, in honor of 
our division commander. The author of the History of the 
I22d Pennsylvania Regiment visited this camp and he pays 
the following compliment to the taste and industry of the sol- 
diers of this division in that interesting book : 

"Humphrey's Division of the Fifth Corps, was located 
north of and to the east of our camp, nestled in a dense pine or 
spruce forest. The soldier boys of this division had erected for 
their comfort and convenience a number of neat, novel looking 
booths, of the spruce trees and boughs, which exhibited the 
taste and mechanical skill of the builders, as well as presenting 
the appearance, somewhat, of a village. They were handsome, 
too, as they were decorated with archways and mottoes of ever- 
greens. They were from the interior of the state of Pennsyl- 
vania, and were fine looking troops who had undergone their 
baptismal shower of leaden hail at Antietam." 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 175 

Captain Jones, of Company C, and his entire company, 
were detailed as provost guard at division headquarters, and the 
captain was appointed provost marshal of the Third Division, 
Fifth Armv Corps, and served very faithfully and acceptahly 
in the trying position until the expiration of our term of service. 
Whilst we recognized the honorable distinction which this detail 
o-ave to Captain Jones and Lieutenants Brice and Fowler, we 
Nevertheless, all regretted their absence and that of Company 
C, from the various activities of our regiment, both social and 
otherwise. 

ARMY BADGES. 

General Meade, our new corps commander, gave evidence 
of his superior merits as a commander by the industry and zeal 
which he displayed in the discharge of his duties to his troops. 
He was everywhere, looking into the details of camp life, ob- 
serving for himself the necessities demanding attention and de- 
vising means for the comfort and efficiency of his men. It was 
no uncommon thing to find him, almost unattended, riding or 
walking about the camps, through company streets, among the 
tents or quarters of the men, and about the out-of-the-way places 
throughout his command. 

General Hooker was indefatigable in his work of prepara- 
tion and reorganization ; yet the long time required for this 
work was often compared to the prompt and repeated efiforts of 
General Burnside, to his disparagement. It was well known 
that between these generals a bitter enmity existed, and that 
General Hooker had been very active in opposition to Burnside. 
No doubt this had much to do with the efforts which were made 
to misrepresent the morale of the army during the winter, which 
was grossly misrepresented, manifestly to the disparagement of 
the former commander of the army. But no efforts were now 
spared to secure the highest possible efficiency. Among those 
various expedients was the device for corps and division badges, 
which proved so effective, and an interesting feature, present 
and future, of our army history. The following extract from 
General Hooker's order will sufficiently explain these : 

"For the purpose of ready recognition of corps and divis- 
ions of this army, and to prevent injustice by reports of strag- 
gling and misconduct, through mistake as to their organization, 
the chief quartermaster will furnish, without delay, the follow- 
ing badges to be worn by the officers and men of all the regi- 
ments of the various corps mentioned. They will be securely 
fastened upon the centre of the top of the cap. The inspection 
officers will at all inspections see that these badges arc worn as 



176 HISTORY OF THE 

designated. Red for First Division, white for Second Division, 
blue for Third Division. First Corps, a sphere ; Second Corps, 
a trefoil ; Third Corps, lozenge ; Fifth Corps, a Maltese cross ; 
Sixth Corps, a cross ; Eleventh Corps, a crescent ; Twelfth 
Corps, a star." 

Injustice was frequently done by false reports as to the 
identity of men ; especially by stragglers or perpetrators of 
crimes or other misdeeds, who would, by design, misrepresent 
the regiment or company to which they might claim to belong, 
when apprehended. 

An intsance of this kind came to my personal knowledge in 
our company. An order came down from brigade headquarters 
placing Lieutenant Kepler under arrest, for alleged non- 
performance of duty as commander of a large fatigue detail the 
day previous at Stoneman's Station. I received the order but 
did not communicate it to the lieutenant, as I was sure there 
was some mistake. J. went to headquarters to ascertain the 
character of the charges and was shown the complaint of Miss 
Fogg to General Sykes, who referred it to our division head- 
quarters, that men belonging to the 131st Pennsylvania Regi- 
ment, claiming to be a part of a detail employed at the station, 
had broken open and appropriated supplies of the Maine sani- 
tary commission. This was sent down by General Humphrey 
with directions to investigate and punish the offenders. I knew 
Lieutenant Kepler to be a faithful and careful officer, and be- 
lieved that his detail had not been near that locality, and Gen- 
eral Allabach happened to know that his fatigue labors were 
performed elsewhere, so that he withdrew the order for arrest, 
and it was not repeated. I have no doubt the real offenders 
knew of Lieutenant Kepler's detail and they falsely personated 
his soldiers. I did not tell him and he never knew how narrow- 
ly he escaped arrest. Since engaged in writing these "Remi- 
niscences" I sent the complaint of Miss Fogg, and the official 
orders of Generals Sykes and Humphrey to our brigade com- 
mander, General Allabach, with the request that he should tell 
me what he kne^v of the matter. I have a most cordial reply 
dated Chicago, 111., Jan. 22, 1896. He says: 

"In regard- to that Madame Fogg and her claims, it is the 
first time I ever heard of it, or the orders enclosed. If I am 
spared and ever get time I will be glad to write some of my 
recollections of incidents occurring whilst with Company A. 
How I would like to see you and "the boys." If you ever come 
this way be sure to call and if I don't give you a warm welcome, 
dear comrade, it will be because I don't know how. 

Sincerely your well wisher, J. W. Kepler. 



1 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 177 

The ris^or of winter was telling upon some of the men. I 
met our genial and most able and watchful surgeon. J. F. 
Huber, one dav, who made anxious inquiry about two of the 
members of Company A, our old man DoUard, and our big man 
Hartley, (or Erdlv.)' They had been answering sick calls, but 
he came to inquire about their habits and their quarters. The 
former was too old for the service and his accustomed habits 
had been rudely broken in upon by the discipline of his army 
life. He had good quarters, but he could not keep warm, and 
none of the men would sleep with him. Upon full inquiry 
the doctor advised that I should devise some way of giving him 
a warm bed, and, if possible, a regular supply of stimulant, for 
a while. I subsequently called him to my tent ostensibly to em- 
ploy him on detail dutv, and inquired about his health, etc., and 
proposed to detail him to guard our tent at night and keep up 
the fire on the hearth ! I asked him. also, if he knew how to 
make "hot toddv." and the smile which lit up his sad face made 
him look twentV vears younger. He was really suffering for 
the want of his accustomed stimulants. He replied, Un, 
toddy, toddy ! Yes. I can make toddy." I then told him we al- 
ways kept a supply of the commissary's best on hand, for emer- 
o-encies and that I now wanted to place "our little brown jug 
m his charge, and I would not forbid his making "toddy for 
himself but that he would be removed and punished if he 
abused his privilege. His "guard duty" he could perform in- 
side the tent, and he could have a pile of blankets, and he need 
not remain awake, but just keep an eye open for any improbable 
depredators. He was healthv and happy ever afterwards, and 
all through the service and subsequently he was a most faithtul 
soldier, and a grateful and enthusiastic friend. He visited 
me annually for years, when I resided at Mifflinburg, and usual- 
ly remained for several days. My grape vines and trees were 
t'rimmed and he sang German luUabys whilst he rocked the babe 
to sleep and he would have done a thousand favors if they had 
been possible to him. He died some years later, at Milton. 
whei-e he fills a soldier's grave, and is tenderly cared for by 
Company E. 

The case of Rlias Hartley was different. He was very 
tall six feet three, and very awkward, so that he was not capalile 
of taking a soldier's place in the ranks. He could scarcely ta k 
English and had an impediment in his speech, so that he could 
scarcely make his wants known. He was suffering and the 
doctor 'suggested his discharge. I do not think he ever passed 
the examining surgeons, but gained his membership through 



178 HISTORY OF THE 

substitution, by designing men wlio were the forerunners of the 
bounty jumpers at Harrisburg. I told the doctor I could not 
name his disability, except that he was wholly unfitted for the 
service, but he volunteered to write his application for dis- 
charge, which was duly executed and approved and on the 14th 
day of February he was honorably discharged. I felt a keen 
sympathy for the unfortunate man, who was so manifestly out 
of place in the army. He was doubtless patriotic and deserv- 
ing, but it was the act of the betrayer who procured his admis- 
sion to the army. He needed most such a friend as he found in 
the just and considerate surgeon of the regiment. 

Among the eventful incidents of the division was the al- 
leged mutiny in the 129th Regiment, of Tyler's Brigade. It ap- 
pears that regiment was required by order of the division com- 
mander to procure dress coats. It was so late in the term of 
their service, and the men protested against what they deemed a 
needless expense and would be only a burden upon them in the 
expected operations of the army in active service. The officers, 
therefore, declined to make or sign the necessary requisitions. 
General Humphrey, I think unwisely, insisted upon his order, 
and placed each succeeding officer under arrest, who was called 
to command and then refused to make the requisition. At this 
stage General Allabach's Brigade was called out and a hollow 
square was formed around the offending regiment. It ap- 
peared to be a most critical situation, but a subordinate officer 
finally yielded and made the required requisition for the dress 
coats, which were issued to the men. 

There was no more gallant regiment in the service than 
the 129th in the recent battle of Fredericksburg and the 
subsequent court martial of some of its officers was generally 
condemned as a most inconsiderate act, although the division 
general's authority could not be questioned. Lieut.-Col. Wm. 
H. Armstrong, of Easton, who was tried by court martial and 
found guilty of disobedience to orders, was immediately re- 
stored at the request of Governor Curtin, and by order of the 
Secretary of War. Subsequently a little volume was issued 
from the press of G. W. Carlton. New York, entitled "Red Tape 
and Pigeon Hole Generals, as Seen from the Ranks," which 
was a scathing review of many of the incidents which occurred 
in General Humphrey's Division. Ihe court martial of the 
young man whom I found sleeping on his post is given, as is, 
also, the altercation between Lieut. William H. Wolfe and 
the lieutenant-colonel of the 131st. An amusing chapter re- 
lates the "Childlike and Bland" experience of a sutler to whom 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 17!) 

was entrusted a general's favorite horse, that was to be taken 
to Washington for careful treatment. The sutler gave no 
vouchers for the horse, and possibly sold him upon the first op- 
portunitv, and had all the better time at Washmgton. On his 
return he accounted to the general with the story that the horse 
had been pronounced glandered and wiis shot, a proceedmg 
which he could not avert and he was very sorry! It appears 
the general was a swearing man and the scene described is a 
most amusmg one. and must be read to be appreciated We 
used to go to T. G. Evans, a popular and entertaining officer ot 
the i2Qth, who could tell the story equally well as the caustic 
author of the book. Evans is at present a citizen of Lewis- 
burg and mav not vet have forgotten how to relate the story 
and picture the almo'st tragic encounter between the general and 
■the innocent and irresponsible agent who kindly agreed to take 
his pet horse to Washington. 

Amono- the reinforcements which were coming to the army 
was the new iqoth Pennsylvania Regiment Col Langhorn 
Wister, and Lieut.-Col. Thomas Chamberhn, formerly of 
Lewisburg. Company D, of this regiment, was Capt. H. W. 
Crotzer's Union Countv company, which was the next one to 
leave home after the departure of Company A, 131st. ihey 
went into quarters near Belle Plain, and became part of the 
First Corps, and won distinction on many battlefields. 

I recall a very pleasant event— a visiting day— by a dozen 
or more officers of our brigade, who, securing good horses and 
a day's leave of absence, made the day merry m calling upon 
a ereat many comrades, in the various regiments, extending all 
the way from Falmouth to Belle Plain. The 150th Pennsylva- 
nia had iust recently arrived from Washington and were 
crreeted with a pitiless snow storm before they had erected 
Quarters. But they were equal to the emergency, as they 
proved themselves to be upon all occasions m their eventful 
three years' campaigning. Harry M. Keiffer, the drummer 
bov, who contributed that charming addition to our war litera- 
ture -Recollections of a Drummer Boy," which still continues 
to charm and instruct thousands of readers, at home and m for- 
eign lands, was a member of Company D, and was a young 
Mifflinburg boy. We met him upon this visit, and all his well 
known heroes,'including "Andy." They proved themseves in 
their -trial by fire" worthy representatives of gallant little Un- 
ion county. 'I rode upon this occasion the spirited little bay 
owned by Capt. H. K. Tyler, of General Allabach s staff, who 
kindlv sent it to me for the occasion. I inadvertently remarked 



180 HISTORY OF THE 

to Lieut. D. B. Wilson, of Company D, as we were mounting, 
that I did not want to ride very fast, as my confidence in my 
equestrianism was not unbounded, but I had scarcely uttered it 
when I detected, by the twinkling of his merry eye, that I had 
erred. We had no sooner united with the larger group of 
visitors, and emerged from our camps, when someone sug- 
gested, "Now for a race — the best man foremost and the 

take the hindmost," and ofif they went at breakneck speed, 
through the bushes, over stumps and gullies, across the plain, 
for there were no roads. I think I held on to the pommel, and 
possibly shut my eyes. I could scarcely restrain the efforts of 
the nol>le little bay, to get to the front, for his owner was a 
skillful horseman and freqviently rode him in the jolly hurdle 
races, which afforded such a fund of fun and recreation in our 
camp life. My early training, however, with our farm horses 
stood me well, and I soon became quite confident and at ease in 
the saddle, and whilst I kept well to the rear, upon this first 
spurt, I had the delightful satisfaction of running fairly around 
Lieutenant Wilson during the day, who most graciously com- 
plimented me for having, he believed, the best horse in the com- 
pany ! We visited many camps and saw many old friends, and 
the pleasant memories of the occasion will linger long among 
the multitude of war incidents which come up as we recall life 
in that winter camp about Fredericksburg. Lieutenant Wilson 
was a native of Hartleton, L^nion county, and a brother of the 
Hon. William F. Wilson of that place. He acted as adjutant 
of the regiment, when Adjutant Pollock was performing staff 
duty, and was recognized as one of the most efficient officers of 
the regiment. He was among the successful officers recom- 
mended for the signal service and he subsequently entered the 
regular army. 

A detailed report was called for showing a full report of 
the condition of every company of the regiment on the 23d day 
of February, 1863. These reports are interesting as an exhibit 
of the presence or absence of every member of the regiment on 
this date. 

Company A reported forty-three for duty. The other 
companies of the regiment made reports showing "present for 
duty" as follows: B, fifty-one; C, no report, the company be- 
ing absent on provost duty ; D, thirty ; E, thirty-seven ; F, forty- 
one ; G, forty-one; H, forty; I, forty-eight; K, thirty-nine. 
Some of these did not include those present and unequipped. 

The two deserters were Privates William G. Henry, who 
claimed to come from Middletown, Pa., and deserted at Harris- 



131 si PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 181 

bur^ August 12, and Sylvester Smith, of Jefferson county, New 
York who deserted at Sharpsburg, October lo, 1862. Those 
men were doubtless among the pioneer "bounty jumpers who 
later infested the recruiting stations and were so successfully 
and disgracefully manipulated by professional recruitmg 
agents, who were partners in the disloyal and dishonorable busi- 
ness These were the only desertions from Company A, and it 
is a matter of congratulation that neither of them belonged to 
Union county. 

Private G. W. Ludwig, who for a long time was absent 
sick was, on October 31, reported to be at convalescent camp, 
near Alexandria. Our subsequent reports recorded hmi sick 
in hospital at Washington, after which we received an official 
notice of his furlough from Harwood hospital, Washington, D. 
C by Assistant Adjutant General Drake DeKay, defences of 
Washington, for a period of sixty days, beginning December 
15 This appears to have been our first and last official notice 
of his whereabouts. He was subsequently regularly thus re- 
ported, until after the expiration of his leave of absence, when, 
receiving no further notice and not returning to his company, 
he was reported as a deserter. This was our duty, but it subse- 
quently became known that he was not a deserter but was sick 
and unable to report, and no notice was received by us to ac- 
count for his absence until after the expiration of our term of 
service. Proper official notices accounting fully for him may 
have been sent, but they failed to reach his company, and thus a 
great injustice was done to a very worthy and patriotic young 
man, who was prostrated by disease during the greater period 
of his term of enlistment, a victim alike to the hardships of the 
service and the accidents of official correspondence. He was 
not a deserter. Many such instances occurred throughout the 
service and after the war ample provision was made at Wash- 
ington for a correction of all such errors, upon the muster rolls, 
by a proper presentation of the facts. I recall at one time hav- 
ing certified to my knowledge of the circumstances of Comrade 
Ludwig's case, which I presume was officially corrected upon 
the records in the War Department. 

Spring was now admonishing us with her gentle breezes, 
budding trees and creeping grass, that soon the storms and 
snows and bottomless roads would yield and General Hooker s 
great army, so long preparing, would resume the gory work to 
which it was appointed, and to which a confiding people was 
looking with so great expectancy. 

The vacancy occasioned by Captain Moyer's absence was 



182 HISTORY OF THE 

now to be filled, and for this purpose application was made for 
the honorable discharge of First Sergt. William Fichthorn, for 
the purpose of accepting a promotion to the position of lieuten- 
ant. This was granted, as will be seen from the following: 

Headquarters, Fifth Army Corps, 
Near Fredericksburg, Va. 

Special Orders No. p4. — Extract. 

1st. The following enlisted men are hereby honorably dis- 
charged from the service of the United States to enable them to 
receive commissions in the vokmteer service. * * * * 

First Sergt. William Fichthorn, Company A, 131st Penn- 
sylvania Regiment, to date from March 31, 1863. 
By Command of 

Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, 
Fred T. Locke, Asst. Adjt. General. 

The commanding officer of the regiment sent the following 
letter oi recommendation to Gov. A. G. Curtin at Harrisburg : 

Headquarters, 131ST Regiment, 
Camp Humphreys, Va. 

To His Excellency, A, G. Curtin, Governor. 

I would respectfully recommend First Lieut. Joseph R. 
Orwig, of Company A, to be commissioned captain of said 
company in place of J. M. Moyer, cashiered, commission to date 
from April i. 

Also, Second Lieut. Joseph W. Kepler, to be first lieutenant 
of same company, commission to date from April i. 

Also, Sergt. William Fichthorn to be second lieutenant of 
same company, commission to date from April i, 1863. 
Respectfully submitted, 

William B. Shaut, 
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Regiment. 

These appointments were promptly made and commissions 
were forwarded from Harrisburg. 

We had quite a time finding a mustering officer, but a re- 
cent appointment had been made for our division, and we set 
out one fine day to find this officer, whose cozy little wall tent 
and official headquarters was nestled in a forest, near the 126th 
Regiment. It was Adjutant John Stewart, of the 126th. who 
duly mustered us. Twenty years later I met him again for the 
first time since that little event, in the Pennsylvania State li- 



i^ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



183 



brary and recognized him as the officer who had mustered me 
as a captain. He was then Senator Stewart and now the Hon. 
John Stewart, of the Frankhn Judicial District. 

The promotion of Sergeant Fichthorn created a vacancy, 
as did the honorable discharge of Corporals Smith and Strahan, 
for wounds received in battle, and these were filled by the tol- 
lowing appointments : 

Headquarters, 131ST Regiment, 
Camp Near Falmouth, Va. 
Regimental Orders No. 12. 

I Second Sergt. Albert Barnes is hereby promoted to be 
first sergeant of Company A, vice William Fichthorn, promoted 

2. Third Sergt. Forster Halfpenny is hereby promoted 
second sergeant, vice Barnes, promoted. 

3. Fourth Sergt. Isaac Treat is hereby promoted to be 
third sergeant, vice Halfpenny, promoted. 

4. Fifth Sergt. Joseph Shriner is hereby promoted fourth 
sergeant, vice Treat, promoted. . 1 .r^u 

5. Third Corp. Henry Rothermal is hereby promoted fifth 
sergeant, vice Shriner. promoted. 

6. Private Jacob Hower is hereby promoted third cor- 
poral, vice Rothermal, promoted. . 

7. Private William H. Weirick is hereby promoted sixth 
corporal, vice Corporal Strahan, honorably discharged. All of 
Company A, 131st Regiment. 

They will be obeyed and respected accordingly. 
By order of 

Major Robert W. Patton, 
' Commanding Regiment. 

S. H. Pollock, Adjutant. 

No notice had at this date been received of the discharge 
of Corporal S. S. Smith, for disability on account of wounds, 
and his place was not filled. 

The explosions in camp will be remembered among the 
eventful incidents of our camp life on the Rappahannock. It 
was among the common tricks for boys to steal upon a niess 
when preparing their meals and drop a cartridge down their 
chimney into the fire. This, of course, was meanness, and not 
fun but I think it suggested the manufacturing of larger ex- 
plosives, by those inclined to mischief, which were secretly 
dropped in unsuspected places, with a slow match ignited, when 
an explosion would follow, after the perpetrators had time to 
appear as most innocent observers at a good distance from the 



184 HISTORY OF THE 

scene. Of course an explosion was a most offensive noise to 
the order-loving commanders, as it is a signal for alarm, and 
they were justly indignant. But the severe discipline in the di- 
vision had given offense which was shared largely throughoiit 
the division, and when this means of mischief was found to 
worry, and offered protection through its secrecy, the setting 
off of bombs became epidemic. General Humphrey held the 
officers responsible for the good order of the camp and first or- 
dered the arrest of the officers of the guard, and directed the 
brigade commanders to hold the regimental officers strictly re- 
sponsible for this most unmilitary conduct. The following 
notice was sent to the commanding officer of the 131st : 

Headquarters Second Brigade, April 9, 1863. 
LiEUT.-CoL. W. B. Shaut, 

In accordance with orders just received from the general 
commanding division, you will place in close arrest the officer 
of the day and the officer of the guard of your regiment for 
neglect of duty in allowing disorderly conduct and disturbance 
in camp. 

He also directs that if the commanding officer cannot re- 
strain the men and preserve proper order, another officer must 
be put in command of the regiment. 

P. H. Allabach, 
Colonel Commanding Brigade. 

All this was complacently regarded by the mischief 
makers, and their scheme was voted a booming success, all at 
the expense of the officers. At midnight that night I was 
aroused by an orderly with a notice of detail as officer of the 
day, to report at brigade headquarters at once. The old officers 
were all under arrest. I found General Allabach up and in full 
dress for duty. He had been ordered to appear, with the new- 
ly detailed officer of the day of the 131st, at division headquar- 
ters, at once. Several tremendous explosions had taken place 
at about 1 1 o'clock at night and had created alarm throughout 
the entire corps. When we arrived there General Humphrey 
was pacing his tent and probably was praying for the miserable 
sinners in Allabach's Brigade ! He was much agitated, though 
he received us cordially and then stated that he wished to con- 
svdt us upon a plan to discover the offenders and prevent the 
disgraceful disturbances caused by the explosions. 

The subject was fully considered and it was suggested that 
it was all a spirit of mischief, and thus far the arrest of officers 
was so much fuel to the flame and was only enjoyed by the per- 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 185 

petrators of the offences. The general took this view of it and 
it was then determined that the arrests should all be recalled 
and hereafter, upon every explosion, the guards would be 
doul)led and extra duty details would all be made from the regi- 
ment offending. It worked like a charm. The men were soon 
all performing increased duty and they learned that they 
brought about their own punishment, and the fun ceased, but 
not before a bomb had been placed under the very fly of the 
general's tent, the explosion of which covered him and his 
headquarters with a cloud of earth and dust, as a parting salute. 

The fre(|uent raids which our vigilant enemy on the 
southern banks of the Rappahannock were making, in order to 
watch our movements, and fathom the designs of General 
flooker, necessitated strong picket lines and active support of 
them. One night the rebel cavalry leader. Gen. Fitz Lee, 
crossed one of the upper fords and our division was sent out to 
check his advance. He had been ordered by Gen. R. E. Lee to 
ascertain if Hooker was making a movement, and did not force 
an attack. We had a long and laborious night march and a 
spring snow storm was adding zest to the movement. The 
event will be remembered mainly for the end of our service that 
night, which was one of the merriest occasions of our service. 
We had had a most disagreeable night and fully expected a con- 
flict with the enemy, who was known to be near. But daylight 
disclosed the retreat of Lee and our force was allowed to stack 
arms and await orders. The soft snow, now almost six inches 
in depth, invited snow balling and it was not long until almost 
the entire command was engaged, in well matched sides, in a 
most terrific fight, affording some of the most comic scenes. 
The heavy artillery was represented by fours with immense 
balls, which were sent crashing through the defences, quickly to 
be met by counter charges, and thus the fun was maintained 
with as much zeal as when charging the enemy in actual con- 
flict. The cold and wet and fatigue of the night were forgot- 
ten, and soon orders were received which brought the boys to 
ihe ranks and their guns, and we returned to camp. General 
Lee went back and reported that he could not detect a move- 
ment of the Army of the Potomac. 

We had a number of snow storms during the winter, but 
the heaviest fall occurred late in the spring. Tt will not be for- 
gotten by those of Company A who were on the picket line that 
night. It will be remembered those details for picket were 
made for a service of three days. Our corps held the line ex- 
tenrling from near the river northward and towards Stafford 



186 HISTORY OF THE 

Court House, connecting with Siegel's lines, aad I was in 
charge of our division Hne. I had four hundred men ; these 
were divided into four reUefs. One hundred were held as a re- 
serve, to be ready at all times for any emergency, and the others 
each held the lines alternately for twenty-four hours. Ser- 
geant Shriner was one of the detail, whom I recall, as he had 
the charge of a prisoner taken and escorted him, with a detail, 
to headquarters of the picket, and he was sent to Washington 
City. It turned out that he was a brother to two young ladies 
living out beyond our lines, who were known to many of the 
boys. Next day we were obliged to arrest these young ladies, 
who were more persistent than polite in their efforts to secure 
the return of their brother. Our orders were strict and I might 
have sent them in, but they were well known by some of the 
men, and, after they realized the danger of crossing our lines, 
and the necessity and justice of our orders, they were given 
the liberty of returning, and their wishes in regard to their 
brother were communicated to headquarters ; but it was two 
weeks or more before he was returned. On our last night we 
had the terrific snow storm. Rebel cavalry were found in 
front and we had special orders to be watchful. I was along 
the line all night and snow and rain made it most disagreeable. 
By 3 o'clock it was more than a foot in depth, but all was quiet. 
The hut of a lame colored man, with a wife and a little boy, 
were just inside our lines. I was wet through and tired, and 
posting Sergeant Shriner as to where I might be found, I 
rapped at the door of the hut and requested to be permitted to 
warm by their log fire upon the hearth, to which I was cordially 
invited. I was warmed and had a refreshing nap of an hour, 
when day dawned and I found all the pickets alert and then 
went to the reserves. Not a man could be seen ! I knew they 
were sleeping on their arms, and did not believe they had de- 
serted. They heard my approach and soon one after the other 
emerged from under the snow, until there was a general upris- 
ing, and the hundred men made merry by snow balling. 

A part of Fitz Hugh Lee's duty was to enforce the rebel 
conscript act, by which means the Army of Northern Virginia 
was largely reinforced. At this time many of the new troops 
which were coming to the Union Army had been paid bounties, 
largely for the purpose of supporting dependent families, but 
they were mercilessly criticised, although no distinction was 
made in the ranks, and they served with credit to the end of the 
war. The rebel ranks were made up by a merciless conscrip- 
tion "which robbed alike the cradle and the grave." The pris- 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 187 

oner taken on our picket lines claimed that he was fleeing from 
Fitz Lee's cavalry, who were after him to "graft him into the 
army." 

The Pennsylvania Reserves were sent to Alexandria to do 
garrison duty upon the line of the railroad extending from that 
place to the front. The I2ist and the I42d Pennsylvania Regi- 
ments remained with the First Corps. After the battle of 
Chancellorsville the reserves rejoined the Fifth Corps on the 
march to Gettysburg, taking the place of Humphrey's Division. 

The prolonged inactivity of the Army of the Potomac was 
now giving rise to many criticisms adverse to the nev/ com- 
mander, as compared with the activity of movements under 
General Burnside, who in the short time he commanded had 
four times put the army in battle array, and at no time failed 
on account of faults of his men. 

President Lincoln again visited the army, who reviewed 
the Fifth Corps on the 7th of April. 



188 HISTORY OF THE 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CHANCELLORSVILLE CAMPAIGN. 

ON the 1 2th of April General Stoneman. commanding the 
cavalry corps, received orders to march, and on the next 
day, with a feint upon the guerrillas in the Shenandoah 
valley, was to ascend the Rappahannock and turn to the rear of 
Lee's army, destroy his communications and then join the 
Army of the Potomac. If Lee retreated he was to harass him 
day and night. "Let your watchword be, Fight ! and let all 
your orders be. Fight, Fight, Fight!" was the order of General 
Hooker. 

On April 21, Doubleday, of the First Corps, made a dem- 
onstration down the Rappahannock, which had the effect of 
drawing Stonewall Jackson's Corps to Port Royal, and was 
further intended to aid the cavalry raid. But Stoneman was 
detained by high water and rains until the 27th. On Monday, 
April 27, the First, Third and Sixth Corps were ordered to pre- 
pare to cross the river at or near Fredericksburg, at Franklin's 
crossing. General Sedgwick to command the three corps. 

On the same day, the 27th, the Eleventh, Twelfth and 
Fifth Corps, with eight days' rations, and sixty rounds of am- 
munition, and eighty rounds upon pack mules, were ordered to 
Kelly's ford, on the Rappahannock, thirty miles above Freder- 
icksburg, where they arrived and were massed at 4 o'clock next 
day. 

The First Corps, under the three division commanders, 
Wadsworth, Robinson, and Doubleday, had "for duty" 16,908 
men. 

Second Corps, General Couch, with the three division com- 
manders, Hancock, Gibbon and French, had 16,893 men. 

The Third Corps, General Sickles, with the three division 
commanders, Birney, Berry and Whipple, had 18,721 men. 

The Fifth Corps, General Meade, with the divisions of 
Griffin, Sykes and Humphrey, had 15.724 men. 

The Sixth Corps. General Sedgwick, with the divisions of 
Brooks, Howe and Newton, had 23,667 men. 

The Eleventh Corps, General Howard, with the divisions 
of Devins, Schurz and Stein wehr, had 12,977 men. 

The Twelfth Corps, General Slocum, with the divisions of 
Williams and Geary, had 13,450 men. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 189 

The Cavalry Corps, General Stoneman, with Pleasanton 
Gregg, Averill and Buford's Reserve Brigade, had 11.541 men. 

The artillery. General Hunt, had about 400 guns and i .600 
reserve men. A total of 131,491. 

Lee's rebel army occupied the south banks of the Rappa- 
hannock, mainly from Bank's ford, six miles above Fredericks- 
burg, to Port Royal, or Skinker's Neck, twelve miles below 
Fredericksburg, but had outposts at the upper fords of the river 
and at various points in the rear of his army. General Long- 
street commanded the First Corps and General Jackson the 
Second Corps. Their divisions corresponded with our corps — 
Anderson and McLaw, 17,000, only were present, of the First 
Corps, and A. P. Hill and D. H. Hill, now commanded by 
Rhoads. Trimble and Early commanded the divisions under 
Jackson, of the Second Corps, 33,400; Stuart commanded the 
cavalry, about 5,000, a total of about 63,000 men and 170 pieces 
of artillery. 

The rebel authors, Hotchkiss and Allen, give the total as 
58,100 men, but state that "there may have been three to five 
thousand more men in line at the time of Hooker's attack." 

In Hooker's subsequent testimony before the Committee 
on the Conduct of the War occurs this tribute to the rebel sol- 
diers : "Our artillery had always been superior to that of the 
rebels, as was our infantry also, except in discipline ; and that 
for reasons not necessary to mention, never did equal Lee's 
army. With a rank and file vastly inferior to our own, intellec- 
tually and physically, that army has, by discipline alone, ac- 
(|uired a character for steadiness and efficiency, unsurpassed, 
in my judgment, in ancient or modern times. We have not 
been able to rival it, nor has there been any near approximation 
to it in the other rebel armies." 

The methods of reporting numbers were not alike and the 
rebels usually had many more men than were reported, and the 
Union army less, because the latter were made from the rolls 
and the former reported only "effective," or what they believed 
to be such. As their records were nearly all destroyed when 
Richmond was evacuated, correct reports cannot be made, nor 
rebel statements verified. 

Bank's ford is six miles, and L^nited States ford is about 
thirteen miles above Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock. 
Chancellorsville is about three miles from the river, on the 
south side, a little below the United States ford, near which 
the Rai)i(lan enters into the Rappahannock. North and west 
of Chancellorsville is a wilderness, but from several miles south 



190 HISTORY OF THE 

to Fredericksburg, about fourteen miles, is open country, and 
much of it a beautiful and much improved farming country, 
through which runs the pike and plank roads parallel, which in- 
tersect at Chancellorsville and diverge again a few miles be- 
yond, towards Orange Court House. Ely's ford and Ger- 
mania, are the fords on the Rapidan where the Fifth, Eleventh 
and Twelfth crossed that stream, after they had crossed the 
Rappahannock at Kelly's ford, on their flanking movement to 
Chancellorsville ; the Fifth fording at Ely's ford, and the other 
two corps at Germania, where they captured a number of rebels 
building a bridge. This they completed and most of the troops 
crossed upon the new bridge. 

General Longstreet with a portion of his corps, had gone 
to Suffolk to operate against General Peck, but General Lee re- 
called him when he discovered Hooker's movement. 

These sudden movements disclosed General Hooker's plan, 
which, in many features, was not unlike the general plan of his 
predecessor — a cavalry raid to the rear, a feint on the left and 
the main assault elsewhere. 

It will be seen the crucial test was to be made by the flank- 
ing columns of the Fifth, Eleventh and Twelfth Corps. When 
we broke camp that bright spring morning on Monday, April 
27th, the army bid goodbye to their winter quarters and no one 
expected to return to them again, and everything combustible 
was given to the flames. The morale of the army never was 
better, and once again the abused Army of the Potomac set out 
hopefully and joyously against Lee and the hostile flag of the 
Confederacy and Richmond. 

Our first day's march brought the 131st Regiment, march- 
ing with the Fifth Corps, to the vicinity of Hartwood Church, 
where we bivouacked, and early next morning resumed the 
march by a wide detour, away from the river, to Kelly's ford. 

Pontoons were thrown across at once and the troops be- 
gan to cross, led by the Eleventh Corps, the Fifth Corps guard- 
ing the rear. When the divisions of Griffin and Sykes had 
crossed. General Meade turned over to General Humphrey the 
supervision of the crossing and directed him to cover the rear 
and take up the bridges. It was nearly night, on Wednesday, 
before the last wagon trains were safely over and by 1 1 o'clock 
our division was on duty on the south side, the pontoons packed 
and the trains ready to move. Our division had a most diffi- 
cult, trying and dangerous position. The trains were long, 
pack mules and cattle difficult to handle, and the rain and mud 
made the roads almost impassable after the bulk of our column 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. I'Jl 

had passed. At about 5 o'clock in the morning General Hum- 
phrey discovered that our guide had led us on the wrong road 
and in the darkness we were compelled to await the dawn be- 
fore we could advance. It was a most trying and wretched 
night for the men. 

The pontoons were needed for the crossing of the Rapidan 
and these trains were sent ahead under escort. At daylight, 
Thursday, April 31, we received orders to advance to Ely's ford, 
on the Rapidan, as quickly as possible, the other forces having 
been directed to Germania ford. The head of the column 
reached the Rapidan at about i p. m., having made a forced 
march of about eighteen miles. After fording the river we 
bivouacked on the banks of Hunting Creek, three miles from 
Chancellorsville. The fording of the river by our division was 
a sight to behold and never to be forgotten. The men were 
weary and heavy laden, and mud covered, after their prolonged 
flanking movement, having marched more than sixty miles; 
and the waters were cold and turbulent. 

General Slocun\. in his report, says: "I have never wit- 
nessed a scene that tended more to increase my confidence in 
our men, or that so strongly excited my admiration, than that 
presented by the fording of the Rapidan River." The 131st 
Regiment reached the river at Ely's ford, early in the after- 
noon. Our ranks were broken and the men marched "at will." 
Strong cavalrymen were stationed in the river to pick up any 
who might be floundered by the quick current, and they doubt- 
less saved the lives of more than one poor fellow who got be- 
yond his depth and his strength and started headlong down 
stream to be rescued by the timely aid of those cavalrymen. 
Many of the men took ofif their clothes and tied their accoutre- 
ments, with their bundles, or knapsacks, to the end of their 
guns, and thus bore them aloft safely and triumphantly, to the 
other side. Those improvised banners did not need the in- 
scription of "Excelsior" to give that column a strange appear- 
ance ; nor was any device necessary to stamp them as brave and 
resolute as was the heroic boy made famous in the storied song 
amid the Alpine heights. The ford was narrow and the men 
were not hurried, as they were going to bivouac nearby on the 
other side, so that it was dark before the last ones got over. 
The thick pine afforded some shelter and a soft bed, but we 
were not permitted to have camp fires, and those whose clothes 
were wet had to pile a good many in a bed to maintain warmth 
enough to enable their tired bodies to sleep. Those who had 
"straggled" that day had quite a time finding the division, and 



192 HISTORY OF THE 

some of these got away off to the plank road then held by the 
enemy, and narrowly escaped running into their lines. 

On the morning of May i, our division marched into 
Chancellorsville, at about 7 o'clock, where it joined Grififin. 
Sykes had pushed forward to the United States ford, where he 
captured and dispersed the enemy by taking their position in re- 
verse, thus opening communication by that ford. The entire 
Fifth Corps was then massed at Chancellorsville. The 
Eleventh and Twelfth Corps picked up all the enemies" pickets 
or dispersed the small detachments in their front, and arrived at 
Chancellorsville at about 2 o'clock on Thursday. 

Stoneman's cavalry were sent out to reach the rear of Lee's 
army and destroy his communications. 

The Second Corps, General Couch, had been ordered to 
Bank's ford, except Gibbon's Division, which remained in 
camp. This corps was to keep back from the river, until the 
flanking column came down on the other side. Gibbon's Di- 
vision was in plain view of the rebels and was designed to mys- 
tify Lee and to be in position to prevent a crossing to the north 
side by the enemy. On Thursday, as soon as the Fifth Corps 
had uncovered United States ford, the rebels under Mahone 
and Posey, who were guarding the south side, were compelled 
to retreat, and Couch threw his pontoons over and his two di- 
visions joined the other column at Chancellorsville. As soon 
as Couch's Second Corps had crossed. General Sickels' Third 
Corps, which lay at Franklin's crossing, just below Fredericlcs- 
burg, was ordered to proceed up the river to United States 
ford, to be at Chancellorsville on Friday morning, May i. 

General Hooker now issued the following : 

April 30, 1863. 
General Orders No. 47 : It is with heartfelt satisfaction 
that the commanding general announces to the army that the 
operations of the last three days have determined that our 
enemy must ingloriously fiy, or come out from behind his de- 
fences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certain de- 
struction awaits him. 

The operations of the Fifth, Eleventh and Twelfth Corps 
have been a succession of splendid achievements. 

By command of 

Major General Hooker. 
S. Williams, Asst. Adjt. General. 




MAJOR ROBERT W. PATTON. 



,31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



193 



Our cavalrv now alarmed the rebel General Stuart, who, 
with his staff, started for Fredericksburg to report to Lee. 

The position on Thursday evening was thus: Sedgwick 
and Reynolds, with the Sixth and First Corps, with Gibbon s 
Division of the Second Corps, were holding the bulk ot Lee s 
army at Fredericksburg. Hooker, with four corps and Sickles 
Corps near bv, lav at ChancellorsviUe. with only the rebel Gen- 
eral Anderson's troops, who had been guarding the fords, in 
front of him. 

Lee was thus far unable to fathom the designs of his an- 
tagonist and was severe in his condemnation of those upon 
whom he depended for information. Until after the arrival of 
Stuart on Monday evening he had no dehnite 
knowledge but then he saw his danger and 
immediafelv put his army in motion. He had the shorter lines 
and good roads to ChancellorsviUe, and his men and othcers 
were familiar with the country. 

The long delav bv Sedgwick's forces in front of Freder- 
icksburg led^ Lee to ^' conclude that the attack would be made 
elsewhere, and he sent his entire army up to meet Hooker, ex- 
cept Early's Division and Barkdale's Brigade about 12,000 
men, who were left in the trenches to hold Fredericksburg 
against Sedgwick and Reynold's Corps and Gibbon s Division, 
more than 40,000 men. 

One need not be skilled in military science to understand 
how completely Hooker seemed to have the rebel army under 
Lee at his mercy. No wonder the Union commander issued 
his enthusiastic order. Up to this time everything had pro- 
gressed favorably for the Union army. It is probable Hooker 
Entertained the idea that Lee would be compelled, not only o 
leave his strong position at Fredericksburg, but that he would 
retreat towards Richmond. His utter failure to meet him m 
battle could be best explained upon this theory. 

On Friday morning. May 1, the First Corps and Hancock s 
Division of the Second Corps, advanced along the river and 
plank road almost to Banks' ford. The Twelfth Corps ad- 
vanced to the plank road and massed "^^ V. . J Pv'tren e 
Church, and the Eleventh Corps was ordered to the extreme 
right. All the remaining troops were massed near Glianceiiors- 

^'^^^^- BATTL?: OF CHANCELLORSVILLE. 

In making this advance our lines came i" conL-ict wi^th 
Lee's army, coming up from Fredericksburg, and the battle 
opened. Hooker now seems to have determined that if 



194 HISTORY OF THE 

Lee did not retreat, he would take a defensive posi- 
tion and compel Lee to attack, therefore our columns 
were ordered back to the same position they occupied on Thurs- 
day, which was now fortified by breastworks and abattis, and 
awaited an assault. 

It will be observed how the errors of the movement were 
now multiplying. The large force left in 

front of Fredericksburg did not prevent Lee from 
taking his main army out to defend it from the large 
flanking movement on his left. Stoneman's cavalry did not 
draw a regiment away from Lee, and it failed to destroy his com- 
munications. The splendid flanking army had met the enemy, 
and almost without a contest was put upon the retreat, and into 
a defensive position, and our two wings were separated by the 
enemy's holding Banks' ford. 

The First Corps, under Reynolds, was now also ordered to 
join Hooker and it reached Chancellorsville on Saturday night. 

A council of general officers was held on Friday evening 
and it was generally believed that our lines should have ad- 
vanced beyond Chancellorsville and uncovered Banks' ford and 
thus placed the two wings within convenient communication. 
Nearly all favored making the advance again, and disapproved 
the retreat. 

General Humphrey's opinion was that we should have at- 
tacked the enemy. 

General Hancock declared it was a mistake to stop at Chan- 
cellorsvillle, and if we had gone on to Banks' ford the whole 
movement would have been a success. 

General Warren, when he heard the order to retire, sug- 
gested that the Fifth and Second Corps delay until he would con- 
sult Hooker and explain the importance of holding the strong 
position, which had great tactical advantages, and Hooker 
yielded ; but before Warren got back the troops had retired. 

Every soldier who was with that advance will remember 
the feeling of confusion and disappointment occasioned by our 
withdrawal. The 131st Regiment had not yet been deployed 
and was marching by the flank when the order was received. 
The wilderness was so dense at that point that we could not 
countermarch and we were "about faced," and returned left in 
front ; and we greatly wondered what it was all about ! 

In our new position Meade, with the Fifth Corps, 
held the line extending from the Rappahannock river to within 
a mile of Chancellorsville. Couch joined Meade's right, with 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 195 

his Second Corps, Hancock in front of Chancellorsville, and 
French in reserve, along the United States ford road. Slocum, 
with the Twelfth Corps, was on his right, south of the turn- 
pike ; and Howard, with the Eleventh Corps, occupied the ex- 
treme right, as far west as the Wilderness tavern, on the turn- 
pike. 

On Saturday morning a portion of the Third Corps, Bir- 
ney's Division, was placed between Slocum and Howard, and 
Sickles, with his other divisions, was placed in reserve at the 
fork of the roads to United States and Ely's fords. Pleasanton, 
with a brigade of cavalry, was near the Chancellor house. 

When Hooker so unexpectedly withdrew from Lee's front 
on Friday, Lee and Stonewall Jackson held a conference at a 
point on the old road leading to Chancellorsville, which had 
been abandoned by our troops. They penetrated Hooker's de- 
sign, which they correctly assumed was to await an attack and 
have the advantage of a chosen and fortified position. Their 
army was also divided, but they believed Early was holding a 
large part of Hooker's forces, and as Lee now held Banks' ford 
they could not quickly be brought to Chancellorsville. It 
would be unsafe to retreat ; they must fight. The movement 
upon Howard's flank was proposed by Jackson. It would 
again divide their army, but it could not render their condition 
worse ; it might succeed. If it failed the way was open to re- 
treat south to one of the many strong positions open to them, 
where they could reunite and make a successful stand and be in 
better position than they were at Fredericksburg. Jackson's 
Corps was 26,000 strong. Lee would only have about 20,000 
left to attack Hooker, but he would only pretend to do so, and 
he believed he could thus keep Hooker's large army inside of hi? 
entrenched position, until he heard the guns of Stonewall Jack- 
son on his right flank. It will be seen what great peril Lee was 
in which Hooker's lieutenants on Friday evening urged an ad- 
vance. Then Jackson himself would have been flanked by 
Meade's and Couch's advance down the river. If Hooker had 
advanced on Saturday morning he would have found Lee alone ; 
with Jackson more than ten miles away on his long march to 
get into Hooker's rear, and the two wings would have been an- 
nihilated. But there was nothing else Lee could do. It was 
justified only by the desperate situation. It ought to have 
failed. 

Before daylight Jackson was on the way. He marched 
west and south, then north until he had passed the turnpike and 
was abreast of Howard's flank, where he arrived about sunset. 



196 HISTORY OF THE 

He faced east and then began one of the most remarkable and 
fiercest battles of the war, and Stonewall Jackson was killed. 

Jackson's movements were observed all day Saturday by 
our troops, and Hooker was kept informed of the passage of a 
large body of troops and trains to his right ; but he no doubt be- 
lived it to be a retreat. General Sickles, who held the Union 
line next to Howard, requested and was permitted to move for- 
ward, but he was cautioned to be careful. His movements 
were therefore slow, but he fell upon Jackson's rear, and made 
some captures, but Lee's left was extended to arrest the pur- 
suing column, whilst Leealso kept upla continuous fire upon Hook- 
er's left wing near the Chancellorsville front, to keep him in his 
trenches until Jackson had gained his rear, which they hoped 
would compel Hooker's retreat by surprise. 

On Saturday morning when the movement to the right was 
reported, Hooker visited Howard's position, which was then 
strengthened and Howard was cautioned about 
a flank attack, but later when Sickles advanced, 
General Hooker was evidently looking only for a front attack or 
a iretreat ; and all day the unvarying report was that "the enemy 
is retreating towards Culpepper." Howard's line was now 
weakened by the withdrawal of Barlow's Division, which, with 
Sickles' absence, created a gap of a mile or more on Howard's 
left. Hooker visited Sickles and the two concluded to allow 
the enemy to develop his plan and if it was a retreat they would 
attack the column at the proper time. If it was a flank move- 
ment, they would let it develop and then fall between the two 
wings and beat them in detail. Fatal delay ! 

From Chancellorsville westward the two roads, the pike 
and plank roads, are united as far out as to Howard's position. 
There they again fork and Jackson was across these forks where 
he faced east and his infantry was concealed in the wilderness, 
whilst his artillery had good roads upon which to approach. 
At 6 o'clock Howard's Corps were preparing their supper and 
had dismissed all expectations of battle for that day. But 
26,000 rebels, driven to desperation, were in solid columns on 
their flank, and the bugle calls for the assault were the first 
warnings to alarm the unprepared Union line. Then the rush 
and the heavy roll of infantry fire came and Howard's Corps 
were sent pell mell down the road and through the woods to- 
wards Chancellorsville. Howard and Steinwehr had been out to 
see Sickles, who was hunting Jackson, and was ready to fall 
upon his rear, when they returned to meet that wing's assault 
and to see the Eleventh Corps utterly flanked and driven out of 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 197 

their works, which werenow alliiseless. But the Union officers did 
not lose their heads. They set themselves to the task of arrest- 
ing- Jackson. The Eleventh Corps could not be justly blamed, 
for no troops in the world could have stood before the rebel 
veterans, under the circumstances, and no better fighting was 
ever done than was done in the successful effort to check Stone- 
wall Jackson, which was done that night, aided largely and he- 
roically by many of Howard's men, after the return of Sickles. 

All the accidents of a great battle seemed to be against the 
Union general. Had Sickles not followed Jackson his magnifi- 
cent corps would have been in the gap which enabled Jackson 
next day to unite with Lee. Or the Reserves near the head- 
quarters, together with Sickles' Corps, could have rallied to 
Howard's defense. When Sickles learned that Jackson had 
flanked Howard and was in his rear he refused to believe it 
possible, but he quickly faced about and then he indeed found 
Jackson and he fell squarely on his flank and completely checked 
the advance of the rebels. It was at this point the eventful 
charge of Keenan's Cavalry, of the Eighth Pennsylvania, was 
made, which, though a sacrifice, was made to gain time for 
Sickles' attack. The artillery of the Eleventh Corps was ral- 
lied and with that of the Twelfth Corps sent their shot and 
shells with fearful destruction into Jackson's solid columns. A 
new line was now formed across Jackson's path — Geary, Wil- 
liams, Whipple, Barlow and Pleasanton. Jackson falls behind 
the Eleventh Corps defences, to protect his right, but the Union 
guns are double shotted and Jackson's lines become a tangled 
mass and his advance is arrested and his column is in danger. 
His men hoist the stars and stripes. It is a ruse to stop the 
guns on his flank. Pleasanton sends forward an aid who is 
fired upon, but discovers the artifice and Sickles' whole line 
opens upon them and shatters the advance and leaves them in 
the darkness in a confused mass. 

The movement of Lee's left, in support of Jackson, left a 
wide gap in his lines, of which no advantage is taken. Three 
Union corps were near by not engaged. 

Jackson was now forced to withdraw his men in order to 
reform his lines, and he brought up A. P. Hill's Division to re- 
lieve them. It was in the lull of this fierce conflict that Jack- 
son was wounded. Nearly all the Confederate writers claim 
that he was shot by his own men. If it is true that he went for- 
ward, in front of his lines, to reconnoitre our lines, with his 
staff, he did what is forbidden by all military authority, and 
is not creditable to his military reputation. lUit he did not do 



198 HISTORY OF THE 

that. The lines were in close proximity all along the Chan- 
cellorsville road, now occupied at many points by our men. It 
seems incredible that Jackson, with an escort, would venture 
there for that purpose. The firing was kept up and our cavalry 
was in the road. It is probable that Jackson received his wound 
from Union guns, and there were many others, on both sides, 
was in the road. It is quite as probable that 
Jackson received his wound from Union 

guns, and there were many others, on both sides, 
killed at the same time. Those same rebel authorities show 
that the firing was general, for when Jackson was carried away 
they were again fired upon, and several of the party were killed 
and wounded. In view of the positive statements made by 
Union officers who assert that their men fired upon the advanc- 
ing mounted men, it must be regarded as problematic, at least, 
by whose fire the great general was lost to the rebel cause. An 
officer of the I22d Pennsylvania Regiment made this entry in 
his diary that night : "At about lo o'clock p .m. a body of 
mounted men were seen coming down the road. They 
were allowed to approach within close range, whereupon the 
men in Birney's line opened fire upon them, killing Stonewall 
Jackson and wounding several of his stafif. This distinction is 
also claimed by the men of the Eighth Pennsylvania Cavalry." 
The rumors which spread among the troops that night were all 
to the effect that our troops had killed their rebel leader. 

In one of the histories of Jackson, by a rebel author, en- 
titled "Old Jack and His Foot Cavalry," I find the following : 

"General Hill galloped hastily up, flung himself from his 
saddle, and choking with emotion, began to cut the clothes from 
Jackson's arru, when suddenly four Federal vedettes appeared 
on horseback, and were fired upon by the staff officers. They 
fell back upon a strong line of Federal skirmishers advancing. 
General Hill and all the officers of both staffs and the carriers 
had no alternative but to mount and ride for their lives, leaving 
Jackson in the road where he lay. Right over the ground where 
was stretched the wounded lion, the Federals advanced. With- 
in their grasp lay the mightiest prize, the most precious pearl, 
in the Confederate crown. But it was not destined that Stone- 
wall Jackson should be struck by a Federal bullet, or yield him- 
self prisoner to a Federal soldier." 

Sickles attacked again, about midnight, with his line ex- 
tending from near Hazel Grove, facing westward and north- 
ward, beyond the turnpike. He drove Jackson's men back near- 
ly to our original lines, and captured about 400 prisoners and 



13 1 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



199 



recovered our lost artillery and trains. The rebels were now 
commanded by A. P. Hill, who was also wounded and the 
command fell upon Stuart. Slocum was not aware that bickles 
was to advance and Williams' Division sent a volley mto his 
lines. But Jacksons Corps was halted. 

On Sunday morning Stuart had rectified his lines for an 
attack to unite his forces with Lee if possible. His hne extend- 
ed from Howard's old position facing south and east, across the 
Chancellorsville road towards Hazel Grove and Fairview. 

Reynolds, with his First Corps, had arrived on Saturday 
evening and was placed in reserve, north of Chancellorsville. 
The Eleventh Corps had been placed in the trenches thrown up 
by the Fifth Corps, on our left, and the Fifth Corps was sent to 
our extreme right, on the Mineral Spring and Ely s ford roads 
The members of the 131st Regiment will recall our movement 
through the broken columns of the Eleventh. 

On Saturday night Hooker had also ordered Sedgwick and 
Gibbon to capture Fredericksburg and pursue the enemy and fall 
upon Lee's rear on Sunday morning. 

Geary of the Twelfth, and Hancock, of the Second, were 
in front of and to the right of Chancellorsville, and French to the 
east, connecting with the Mineral Spring road and Howard s 
Corps. 

Surely if these forces fall upon Lee's army, thus divided 
into three detachments, he must be crushed, if he does not re- 

Hooker did not hear Sedgwick's guns in the rear of Lee, 
Sunday morning, and he was further alarmed by the fierce as- 
sault made by Stuart early in the morning, whose force was 
larger than Sickles', and the higher ground which he now oc- 
cupied enabled him to send his shells and solid shot clear down 
upon Chancellorsville, into Hooker's headquarters Instead of 
promptly meeting this attack with his whole line, Hooker gave 
orders to withdraw to an inner line, and thus it came about that 
during the fiercest of that morning's battle the rebel lines were 
trying todrive Sicklesand his supports, and Hooker s orders were 
not onlv withholding reinforcements, but were withdrawing the 
lines, and thus opening the way for a union of Jackson s Corps 
with Lee and their victory over Sickles. In the midst of the 
struggle General Hooker was disabled by the explosion of a 
shell as he was standing under the heavy columns of the Chan- 
cellor house portico, and for a while all orders ceased, except the 
fatal order to retire. 



200 HISTORY OF IHE 

It will be seen here again how the accidents of the battle 
seemed to be against the Union army. There were three Union 
Corps lying near by not engaged. Sickles sent order after or- 
der for reinforcements, but they were not sent. Hooker was 
disabled, but did not relinquish command. There were no or- 
ders, except the one already issued to withdraw. The gallant 
Berry, who was commanding Hooker's old division, was killed. 
They had almost succeded in driving back the enemy. General 
Revere, who succeded him, gave orders to retreat, but he was 
relieved at once by Sickles and his troops recalled. He was 
subsequently court martialed, but was permitted to resign. 
General Stevens succeeded General Revere, but he also fell and 
the division was compelled to fall back. 

The Second Corps was now obliged to fall back, under 
cover of the Fifth Corps, and the enemy's shells set fire to the 
Chancellor house;, and our lines fell back to the new position. 
The woods were also set on fire where Berry had made his gal- 
lant stand and the Union and rebel wounded and dead were 
strewn thickly upon the ground. Thus outnumbered and de- 
feated. Sickles and his supports, after one of the fiercest strug- 
gles of the war, were compelled to yield the field to the enemy, 
who, exhausted and with leaders gone, proudly occupied the 
ground at about noon of that sorrowful Sunday. 

"As long as the history of this war shall be read, conspicu- 
ous upon its pages will be the record of the achievements and 
the sacrifices of the Third Corps (and its supports) in the Wil- 
derness and at Fairview." 

GENERAL HUMPHREY'S REPORT. 

General Humphrey's report of the battle thus briefly states 
what part was taken in this Sunday's battle in support of 
Sickles. * * * "By General Meade's direction I exam- 
ined the position commencing at Chandler's house (the white 
house), and running along the Mineral Springs road to the 
Rappahannock, and immediately occupied the left of that posi- 
tion, which commands the approaches to the United States ford 
by Motts, or the river road and its branches. The next day. 
May 2, Saturday, before midday, the position was entrenched ; 
three roads under cover were opened, communicating with as 
many to the ford, and twenty-six pieces of artillery — Randol's, 
Martin's and Hazilett's Batteries, on the left, and Barnes' and 
Phillips' on the right, were placed in position, rendering it im- 
possible for theenemy todebauchfromthewoodsonthehighopen 
plain (Child's farm) opposite the heights occupied by my division. 



rsist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 201 

These facts are highly creditable to the zeal and energy of the 
officers and men of the command. The enemy's mounted pick- 
ets were visible along the edge of the woods, about i,ooo yards 
distant, where the river road debauches from the woods. I, 
having been directed by the major-general commanding the 
Fifth Corps, to ascertain whether the enemy was in force in my 
immediate front. Colonel Francine, of the Seventh New Jersey 
sharpshooters, was ordered to send out fifty men to 
reconnoitre. This duty was handsomely performed. The 
enemy's infantry pickets were ascertained to commence on 
the river road, a mile and a half below our left, and to extend 
obliquely from our line to the plank road. Before daylight on 
the morning of the 3d, I received orders to march my division 
to the vicinity of the junction of the Mineral Springs road, 
(moving along the front occupied by the Fifth Corps on the 2d) 
with the road from Chancellorsville to Ely's ford, leaving the ar- 
tillery in position and a staff officer to point out the details of 
the position to the troops ; but just as my column was put in mo- 
tion the head of that of the Eleventh Corps made its appear- 
ance, and I received orders not to move until I was relieved by 
that corps. As soon as Major General Shurtz had relieved me, 
about 10 minutes past 6 a. m., I marched and massed my di- 
vision in rear of the centre of Griffin's Division on the Ely's ford 
road, being instructed to support Griffin, Sykes and French, on 
the left of Griffin, as the circumstances might require. At 
about 8 o'clock Allabach's brigade was moved to the woods in- 
tervening between Chandler's house and Chancellorsville, the 
ground previously occupied by French (and Berry) and en- 
gaged with the enemy in the woods in our front. At about 9 
o'clock I received orders to send a brigade to support General 
French and I directed General Tyler to support him. He had 
scarcely moved into position when the enemy in strong force 
opened fire upon him. It was returned with spirit, and a warm 
engagement ensued, which was continued for an hour, when 
the enemy in increasing numbers, began to flank the right. The 
greater part of the sixty rounds of ammunition had by this 
time been nearly expended and General Tyler asked for a new 
supply, (which could not be sent), and he was directed to with- 
draw when his ammunition was expended, which he did soon 
afterwards, with a total loss of ten officers and 229 enlisted men. 
Among the officers wounded. I regret to mention Col. E. M. 
Gregory, Ninety-First Pennsylvania, seriously, and Maj. Joseph 
Anthony, severely. At about 1 1 o'clock I received orders to 
place two regiments of Allabach's Brigade at the disposition of 
Major-General Couch, commanding the Second Corps, and one 



202 HISTORY OF THE 

of his staff officers, at the same time reqviested me to place them 
perpendicularly in the Chancellorsville road, one on each side, 
and advance them to the edge of the wood bordering the open 
ground of Chancellorsville, then held by the enemy. The ob- 
ject was to hold the enemy in check until the two corps of Ma- 
jor-General Couch and Major-General Sickles were placed in 
the new position. This duty fell to the 133d and 155th Penn- 
sylvania Regiments, who, under the command of Colonel Alla- 
bach. advanced, their skirmishers engaging those of the enemy, 
to the ground they were directed to occupy. Upon their near 
approach to it the enemy opened upon them with shot and shell 
and canister. The new position of the two corps having been 
taken up the two regiments retired slowly, through the wood 
and rejoined their brigade, having performed the duty in a cred- 
itable manner, losing one officer (Adjutant Edward C. Bendere, 
133d,) and three enlisted men, killed, and one officer and thirty 
enlisted men wounded." 

In the new line the Fifth Corps was massed on the right, in 
support of either the First Corps, Reynolds, or the Second 
Corps, General Couch, on our left. Before continuing the ac- 
count of the battle let us briefly recall the part thus taken by the 
131st Regiment. When we threw up those entrench- 
ments on the left, along the Mineral Spring road, much of 
which was done by the bayonet for a spade, we felt enthusiastic 
as we looked upon the little ravine before us and the rebels be- 
yond, and felt that we had secured a strong position upon which 
to battle. We did not know what was going on around us. We 
can recall our amazement when we heard of the battle on the 
right and our retirement from the works to about-face to the 
north. There was little rest for us that night and in the early 
morning we moved forward through the broken columns of 
Howard's Corps, who had been ordered into our entrenchments. 
They were dispirited but not dismayed, and they would, in their 
new position, no doubt, have rendered as good service as any 
other soldiers of the army. 

When we were ordered in to the support of our struggling 
and overmatched columns on Sunday morning we were placed 
in what is the hardest position soldiers can know during a bat- 
tle — that of being in its midst, the noise and tumult and danger, 
and the dead and wounded on every side, but ourselves inactive 
and looking on. 

Tyler's Brigade and two of our regiments came into fierce 
contact, but the 131st was too far to the right and with only a 
few wounded by shells, did not fire a gun. It was when in this 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 203 

position, near the white house, when in Une of battle we lay in 
the little peach orchard, close upon- the ground, the men shelter- 
ing" themselves behind their knapsacks, or stones or ogs, or any 
other available protection-Private Grove says he had an iron 
kettle— that the final struggle was taking place for Chancellors- 
ville The nist was on the right of our line. An officer with 
orders inquired for Colonel Allabach. He was directed to the 
woods where that officer was engaged with the le t of our line 
A shell passed so near his head that his horse wheeled about 
violentlv and the officer lost his hat, whilst the shell buried it- 
self in tile ground, but did not explode. One of our men picked 
up the hat and with a polite salute he rode off, with apparent m- 
diiTerence, into the mclce in the woods. 

The rebel troops, the left of Jackson's corps, which extended 
north to the turnpike, were severely handled and we witnessec 
the capture of a large number of rebels. A park of artdler), 
about forty guns, had been quickly gathered by General Meade 
and the horses were withdrawn, and the guns unlimbered for 

action. 

"Ah I what a sound will rise— how wild and dreary— 
When the death-angel touches those swift keys ! 
What loud lament and dismal wz'5^r^r^ _^ 

Will mingle with their awful symphonies. 

We did not wait long. Sickles' right was falling back, and 
the rebels, no longer in columns, rushed forward ma tangled 
mass They were near the spot where Jackson fell and they 
were'firing the rebel heart with cries of "remember Jackson 
As thev emerged in the opening in front of the white house all 
those ''swift keys" began to play, and their column was shat- 
tered and after a hand to hand conflict with the mfantry they 
were 'driven back, a large number of prisoners were taken and a 
Union regiment was retaken, and our lines were maintained. 
Then the ever recurring order to "fall back to the new position 
finally left the ground to be occupied by the enemy. 
Of this movement General Meade says : 
"I detached Allabach's Brigade of Humphrey's Division, 
to occupy the woods between Chandler's white house and Chan- 
cellorsviile until all the troops were withdrawn withm the shorter 
line to be occupied. In the meantime I collected al the avail- 
able batteries under the immediate command of Captain Weea, 
chief of artillery of the Fifth Corps, and placed them m position 
around the white house to cover the withdrawal and check the 
advance of the enemy. This duty was most successfully ac- 
complished." 



204 HISTORY OF THE 

The point held by the 131st became the front angle of our 
new line, around and in front of the white house. This new 
line had been carefully prepared by General Warren and Cap- 
tain Comstock. The apex was at the white house. The left 
extended to the river along the Mineral Springs road, and the 
right lay in advance of and along the river to Ely's ford. Sickles, 
Couch and Meade held the front, Reynolds the right and 
Slocum and Howard the left. The position was almost im- 
pregnable and covered completely the roads to the United States 
ford. It would have been quite impossible for General Jack- 
son, or both Lee and Jackson, to have made a successful attack 
upon these troops, most of whom had not been engaged. 

One of the most complete reviews of the Chancellorsville 
battle is by Gen. Theodore A. Dodge, United States Army, in 
his book entitled, "The Campaign of Chancellorsville ." In 
reference to the situation at this point that author says : 

"Hooker still had in line at Chancellorsville 80,000 men. 
Lee had not exceeding half that number. But every rnusket 
borne by the Army of Northern Virginia was put to good use ; 
every round of ammunition was made to tell its story. On the 
other hand, of the effective of the Army of the Potomac, barely 
a quarter was fought, au fond, while at least one-half the force 
for duty was given no opportunity to burn a cartridge to aid in 
checking the onset of the elated champions of the south." 

If Reynolds' eager and fresh corps had been thrown upon 
Jackson's left flank when he was so hard pressed by Sickles on 
his right flank, the victory would have been on the Union side. 
At the same hour a portion of the Fifth Corps and all of How- 
ard's and Slocum's Corps had Lee's left wing within their 
power. 

General Dodge says : 'Tnstead, then, of relying upon the 
material ready to his hand. Hooker conceived that his salvation 
lay in the efforts of his flying wing under Sedgwick, some fif- 
teen miles away. * * * * 

"And this is not alone for the purpose of vindicating the 
fair fame of the Army of the Potomac and its corps command- 
ers, but truth calls for no less. And it is desired to reiterate 
what has already been said, and it is in appreciation of Hooker's 
splendid qualities as a lieutenant, that his inactivity in this cam- 
paign — after Thursday — is dwelt upon. No testimony need be 
given to sustain Hooker's courage ; no man ever showed more. 
No better general ever commanded an army corps in our ser- 
vice. This is abundantly vouched for. But Hooker could not 
lead a hundred thousand men ; and, unlike his predecessor, he 



1 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



205 



was unable to confess it. Truth awards praise and blame with 
equal hand, and truth in this case does ample justice to the 
brave old army and to Hooker's noble aids." 

It is said that Napoleon was of the opinion that he and the 
Archduke Charles were the only men in Europe who could suc- 
cessfullv manouevre 100,000 men. He considered it a very dit- 
ficult tliing. Probably only a few men in one age are born who 
are capable of doing so. 

The plan devised by Lee and Stonewall Jackson in their 
desperation on Friday evening, had thus far been successful— 
but not entirely, and at fearful cost. Jackson and Hill were lost 
to him • and his losses in killed, wounded, prisoners and guns 
were large and could not be replaced. A few days later, before 
Jackson died, Lee sent this dispatch : 

"Could I have directed events, I should have chosen, for the 
good of the people, to have been disabled in your stead ' Jack- 
son died Mav loth from the wounds received m battle. L|ie 
death of Jackson was communicated to the Union Army m tne 
following telegram : 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
May 12, 1863. 
Richmond papers of yesterday announce the death of 
Stonewall Tackson from wounds received in the late battle. 

Daniel Blttterfield, 
Major General and Chief of Staff. 
Hooker was wounded and had not heard from Sedgwick's 
column. 

Lee at last heard the sound of battle in his rear. He learns 
that Sedgwick and Gibbon have taken Fredericksburg and 
Sedgwick is marching towards Cancellorsville. and Gibbon is 
holding the city, and he looks anxiously in that direction. Will 
his wearv columns vet be crushed between those two armies^ 
Must he now retreat southward? It seems like the irony ot 
fate that made Generals Newton and Brooks the captors of the 
stone wall. 

He is aware that Hooker did not use his forces thus far in 
the campaign, and he trusts that he will await an attack in his 
last new position. He will leave Stuart's weary TOlumns face 
about and fall upon Sedgwick and crush him. whilst Early re- 
captures Fredericksburg, and then he will return to Hookers 
front He decides upon the venture. Leaving the shattered J ack- 
son Corps with Stuart, now numbering only some 19,000 men, 



206 HISTORY OF THE 

to keep Hooker with his 80,000 in his breastworks, he took the 
remainder of his army against Sedgwick and on Monday morn- 
ing was before Salem Church, bent upon crushing him there. 
Early, thus relieved, fell upon Gibbon on Fredericksburg 
heights on Monday morning, and compelled his withdrawal 
from the city to the north side of the river before night and his 
pontoons at the Lacy house were taken up. 

Sedgwick, seeing his danger, with Early in his rear and 
Lee in front, now opened communication with Banks' ford, as a 
possible outlet in case of disaster. He had scarcely 20,000 men 
left to confront Lee with 25,000. His forces were so disposed 
as to guard all approaches, and Lee prepared to assault him 
there. When Hooker learned of the recapture of Fredericks- 
burg he became alarmed for Sedgwick and ordered him to 
cross to the north side of the river ; but, later, he determined 
himself to follow Lee on Tuesday morning and countermanded 
the order. But the accidents of battle were again most unfor- 
tunate for the LInion side and the last order was not received 
by Sedgwick until his last columns were on the pontoons. 
Had Hooker advanced, the two wings would have crushed 
Lee, or would have compelled him to retreat, an event which 
Lee had provided for in his orders to Stuart, who was left in 
front of the Union Army. Lee's failure to crush Sedgwick, 
between his forces on one side and Early's on the other, was 
severely criticised by the southern press as a great blunder. 

The losses of General Sedgwick's column at Fredericks- 
burg and Salem Heights, during the two days' engagements, 
were reported as being 4,925, killed, wounded and missing. 
He captured five flags, fifteen guns and 1,400 prisoners and lost 
no material. 

It will be seen Hooker did not advance to relieve Sedg- 
wick and now Lee again held the south side of the river, from 
Chancellorsville to Fredericksburg, as before Hooker's advance 
began, with Hooker's main army in an entrenched position neai- 
the United States ford, and Sedgwick and Gibbon on the north 
side of the Rappahannock, near Banks' ford and Fredericks- 
burg. 

On Monday evening. May 4, a conference was called and 
all the corps commanders, except Sickles, favored an imme- 
diate advance upon Lee. General Hooker suggested a re- 
crossing and with the entire army attack at Fredericksburg, or 
Franklin Crossing, as Burnside had done. 

But Sickles urged that there was no need of taking hazards. 
The political situation, he reasoned, was such that a defeat 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 207 

would be disastrous. The work of the enemies, at home and 
abroad, might be fatal, and, whilst the military reasons for an 
advance seemed to be sound, yet the immediate success of the 
Army of the Potomac was secondary to the avoidance of dis- 
aster. Other difficulties also began to arise. The "accidents" 
were again against us. The heavy rains threatened a flood in 
the river and endangered Hooker's communications. The 
operations of the cavalry raid had not seriously affected Lee, 
and his communications had scarcely been brokeru Hooker, 
therefore, again changed his mind and now resolved to retire 
on Tuesday night to his old camps. 

Stoneman's cavalry raid was the greatest thus far made 
and sent consternation, for a time, throughout the Confederacy. 
His raiders penetrated to within a few miles of Richmond. 
But the column was divided into small detachments and the 
main purpose was not accomplished. The force sent to break 
up the railroads was too small, and although they reached both 
the ]*>edericksburg & Potomac and the Central railroads, and tore 
them up, yet reinforcements were sent over them to Lee, and 
his wounded were carried to Richmond, the road having been 
restored without much interruption. 

A thorough destruction of Lee's line of supplies and re- 
treat, at the time Hooker intended should be accomplished by 
the cavalry, would, possibly, have compelled Lee to retreat from 
Fredericksburg ; and, later, when Sickles fell upon Jackson's 
flank, and when Sedgwick had taken Fredericksburg, had 
Stoneman's cavalry appeared in Lee's rear, Hooker would 
doubtless have moved upon his front, and the result could not 
have been other than the flight of Lee or the destruction of his 
army. Lee's subsequent correspondence with the Richmond 
authorities clearly indicates that he contemplated this as a 
probable result. 

During Tuesday, the 5th, General Warren and Captain 
Comstock, of the engineers, prepared a new and shorter line, 
in the rear of the line then held by the army, to secure it from 
any attack the enemy might make. A continuous cover and 
abattis was constructed from the Rappahannock, at Scott's 
Dam, around to the mouth of Hunting creek, on the Rapidan. 
The roads were put in good order, new ones cut through the 
woods, and a third bridge was put down, over the Rappahan- 
nock. The part taken by General Humphrey's Division on 
Monday and Tuesday, is set forth in his rei)ort, from which I 
again quote : 

"Before daylight, on Monday, the 4th, I received orders 



208 HISTORY OF THE 

to support Major-General Sickles, on the left, in a certain con- 
tingency ; and immediately opened a route for my division 
through the thick underbrush, to the ground I should occupy 
in such a contingency. During the day, I likewise received 
direction to support Major-General Reynolds, commanding the 
First Corps, on the right, and opened a similar route to the rear 
of his position. On the morning of the 5th, Tuesday, the 
pioneers of my division, and subsequently two regiments of it, 
were detailed for fatigue duty with the engineers of the army in 
constructing entrenchments and opening roads. These regi- 
ments rejoined the division about midnight. In the afternoon, 
by direction of Major-General Meade, I formed AUabach's Bri- 
gade in line of battle, 150 yards in rear of Sykes' left, and 
Tyler's Brigade lOO 3'ards in rear of AUabach's. My instruc- 
tions were, in the event of the enemy entering the entrenched 
line, to charge with the bayonet. This position my division 
held until the march to the United States ford began. At 
nightfall two regiments were detached to aid the passage of the 
artillery as far as the ford. One of these regiments rejoined 
the division on the march and the other at the ford. At about 
I o'clock a. m., on the 6th, my division commenced the march 
to the United States ford, but it was halted and massed on the 
right of the road, after marching one mile. At daylight the 
march was resumed and a position taken up at the ford, the 
left resting on the brick house on the Mott. or river road, and 
the right on the outbuildings of the United States ford road. 
In this position it remained until Grififin's Division took up a 
position in its rear, when my division crossed the Rappahannock, 
by the upper bridge, simultaneously with Sykes' Division on the 
lower bridge, and marched to our old camps, which it reached 
before dark." 

This concise statement by General Humphrey is char- 
acteristic of that thorough soldier, but these events were full of 
intense interest to his men, and may well be amplified in these 
pages, now that those mysterious movements, which so much 
puzzled us then, are revealed to us. 

We could not comprehend the movement of Sunday. We 
heard the battle in the rear of Lee and that Fredericksburg had 
been captured. We knew that the flanking column under 
Jackson had been arrested, we heard the shouts of our men, and 
it was rumored that Jackson had been killed ; but we were told 
that the entire army under Lee was now between the two wings 
of the Union Army, and it would crush Lee when the changes 
of position were completed. It was a busy day. Strong lines 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 209 

of field works and numerous roads, connecting our various 
lines were constructed and the operations were contmued da> 
and nieht. Our shifting positions indicated preparations for a 
Renewal of the battle, so little is known to the men of what is 
going on in so large an army. 

It was during the Sunday battle when we ^f^^^'^^"^^ 
the support of the Third Corps, vvith a portion of the Second 
Coros on the right of French s Division, that Private l.rove 
had 1 is knapsack shot from off his back by a shell, as he lay 
behind an i?on kettle, "listening to the boom boom, and wai ing, 
for the vi yi's" ! Privates Phares Blett and George Mar^i_.o 
Company F, and Joseph Long, of Company G, and Hira 
Smith of Companv D, were wounded, and thirty-tive men 
f^romot°4 regiments of the brigade. The total loss m the d - 
Sion was tenVers and 229 enlisted men. J\e"ew adjutant 
of the i^^d Regiment, who had lust succeeded Adjutant Noon, 
kdled at^ F-^ericksburg was km^^^^ at this time^ T^e severe 

Soaring to rent All along both lines the men. Union and rebel 
were seen to -et out, like so many drowned rats, from their 
heUe but or. both sides they stood to their posts, their gun 
'ecured under their great coats, and the colors dripping an 
dra-led We could see the rebels, whose lines on the side hil 
were even in worse plight than ours. They occupied a part of 
;: line wh cl "ve had previously held, and empty c-ker bo -. 
rphcs of an issue of rations, were strewn thickly along t e Ime. 
Ttsewee worked into their trenches and went pell me 1 down 
th hillside, presenting a ludicrous --e and the i;ebels v t^^ 
their colors and mud-covered ranks stood before tl^ir trenches, 
and thus we grimly faced each other until the sto^^ J^^^^^' 
when both sides dropped into their lines as best they could. 

\fter dark heavy details were made from the regiment to 
throw up new lines, and to aid the artillery m movmg over new 
road! and through the mud, as we thought, to take position for 
h battle I remember a call from the -l^utant who wa^^^^^^^^^^^ 
trustv lieutenant to take charge of a detail for a hazardous 
dutv' I called Lieutenant Fichthorn and I can see lis manl> 
tm as vividly now as when he quickly ^^^^^^1^^^':^^ 
the order He was to take a heavy detail, with picks anci 
spades, and at an exposed point was to throw up a '^^J ^ne in 
front of the line then held. He was fearless of danger and al 



210 HISTORY OF THE 

ways quick to respond to every call of duty. Buckling his 
sword a little tighter, and with a twinkle in his always merry 
eye, just a little brighter, he grasped my hand and, with a 
"Good-bye, Captain," which he emphasized with a significant 
shrug, which seemed to say "farewell," he was off to his detail. 
The rain kept pouring and it was hoped that advantage might 
be taken of it to secure the position desired in the darkness. 
Only a few armed men accompanied the men. But they had 
scarcely commenced digging when quick volleys of musketry, 
between our men and a similar body of rebels, sent out for a 
same purpose, put an end to the effort, and both sides fell back 
to their lines. Neither side could throw up new lines without 
bringing on a battle, for which they were not ready. 

Captain Waream, of Company K, had a large detail con- 
structing corduroy roads that night. It was with this detail 
that Diehl, of Company A, had his adventure, when he was 
ordered to be shot. The men engaged in these duties were wet 
and mud-covered, and terribly exposed, and our losses from 
the severe labors were greater than were those of some of the 
regiments in the thickest of the repulse of Jackson, or in the as- 
sault of the stone walls at Fredericksburg. 

The 131st Regiment was one of those which were detached 
on Tuesday night to aid the artillery. Company A's place was 
along one of those new roads, in a dense woods, where we were 
stationed in squads not only to keep the batteries on the road, 
but to aid the floundering teams, if perchance any should go 
down, and thus obstruct the column. Lieutenants Kepler and 
Fichthorn were vigilant along both sides of our lines and it was 
hard at times to determine if they were swimming or wading ; 
but we met often and a touch, on a mud-covered hat with a 
mud-covered glove, was the greeting, and the salute meant "All 
goes well, and isn't this fun?" and away they went into the 
darkness. 

The pickets kept the enemy engaged and they did not dis- 
cover that our movement was a retreat. An occasional shell 
was sent and a spurt on the outer lines kept both armies awake. 
I did not know that our army was moving towards the pon- 
toons,, as we were holding these outer lines, but confidently ex- 
pected to be in the front line of an assault upon Lee as soon as 
morning dawned. When in the woods upon our detached duty 
I picked up a fine breech-loading rifle, with belt and cartridges, 
possibly lost by a cavalryman, and thought it might be service- 
able in case of a personal encounter that night. I was holding- 
it over my shoulder, with heavy end upwards, when I stepped 



13 J St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



211 



upon a root and was violently thrown into the mud and water 
Sero-eant Shriner was by my side and eagerly niquired if 1 had 
been hit My firmament of vision was quickly lUummated with 
many bright stars, which I saw clearly! but the heavy end o 
mv rifle helped to sink my face quite deep into the mud. yet i 
was soon able to assure the kind sergeant that I was not hurt. 
I looked but for a moment where my rifle was, when i remem- 
bered it was not for me to carry it— I had other duties— and i 
flung it away. 

When dav began to dawn, on Wednesday, the 6th, we soon 
all learned that our armv was crossing the river at the Lnited 
States ford. The Fifth Corps had been covering the retreat. 

Before crossing the pontoons we were put to one of the se- 
verest tests to which we had yet been subjected. After we had 
just recovered from our surprise that we were not going mto 
battle, and were massed near the river awaiting our turn to 
take the bridge, we were ordered about, to go to the front Al 
knew that our term of enlistment had already expired, and 
visions of home, and re-enlistments, and safety, had given re- 
newed animation to the worn and dejected spirits and forgetful- 
ness of the last ten days' struggle. But the order to fall m 
was obeyed ; only a few of the ever faithful soldiers oi Compan> 
A had then anticipated the orders to march for the bridge and 
I did not have it in my heart to recall them, nor to hint that i 
had observed them. Some rebel fortifications had been left 
above the ford, and a detail of pioneers were destroying thes^ 
and the rebels had sent a few shells against them. We wen 
back about a mile, and our presence no ^^^^^t had the effect o 
keeping them back, and our columns were not molested, except 
by a few shells which did not reach us. 
' The river was very high and the flood endangered the 
safety of the bridges which rolled and swayed as the heavy 
columns were hurried over. The soft ground near the ap- 
proach was "a sea of mud" through which, al mght long, the 
army— infantry, cavalry and artillery-wended its way to live 
and 'fight some other day." 

Without attempting to enter upon the details of this cam- 
paign I have sought rather to indicate our associations m the 
operations and thi character and extent of the services which 
we were permitted to perform. 

General Humphrey thus testifies to his appreciation of the 
personality of the men and their valuable services : 

"I cannot close this report without expressing my gra i- 
fication at the fine spirit that animated my division throughout 



212 HISTORY OF THE 

the recent operations. Long marches, rapid movements, long- 
continued labor in opening roads and throwing up entrench- 
ments, exposed to heavy and continuous rain, loss of rest, all 
combined, did not destroy their cheerfulness nor dampen their 
spirit. They exhibited the same courage in meeting the enemy 
that they had formerly shown ; and this under circumstances 
that are recognized as unfavorable to the exhibition of the best 
qualities of troops. I refer to the fact that their term of ser- 
vice was about expiring. When in camp the officers and men 
have been zealous in their efforts to acquire a knowledge of the 
duties of a soldier. They have cheerfully performed every duty 
required of them, whether that of the working party, or armed 
service. They have been prompt and obedient, and have fought 
as well as the best troops at Fredericksburg and Chancellors- 
ville." 

Major Patton commanded the 131st Regiment in this cam- 
paign, Lieutenant-Colonel Shaut having remained in the hos- 
pital near Falmouth. Lieut. A. D. Lundy, of Company L per- 
formed staff duty with the brigade commander. Colonel Alla- 
bach, who made honorable mention of him in his report for dis- 
tinguished services during the battle. 

The 131st Regiment held the post of honor on the right of 
our brigade, and the 129th, Col. J. G. Frick's Regiment, the cor- 
responding position on the extreme left of Tyler's Brigade. It 
will be remembered that this was the regiment in which oc- 
curred the unfortunate contention concerning the order for the 
procuring of dress coats, out of which grew the court martialing 
of both Colonel Frick and Lieutenant-Colonel Armstrong. It 
is in evidence that they did not lack the best qualities as soldiers 
in battle, as will be understood from the following extract from 
the report of Brig.-Gen. E. B. Tyler, commanding their bri- 
gade : 

"The 129th Regiment was on our extreme left, and no man 
ever saw cooler work in field drill than was done by this regi- 
ment. Their firing was grand — by rank, by company, by 
wings, in perfect order. Colonel Frick's stentorian voice was 
heard above the din of musketry, and, with the aid of Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Armstrong and Major Anthony, his regiment was 
splendidly handled, doing its duty well." 

It will be seen the Fifth Corps, as at Fredericksburg, cov- 
ered the retreat of our army. It was for this reason that we 
failed to realize that our movements on Tuesday and that night, 
were a retreat, as we were kept in front facing the enemy. The 
works thrown up that night were only occupied by the Fifth 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 213 

Corps. General Hunt, chief of our artillery, said : '"No opposi- 
tion was made by the enemy, except by the attempt to place bat- 
teries on the points from which our bridges could be reached, 
and to command which I had posted batteries. A cannonade 
ensued and they were driven back with loss and one of their 
caissons exploded. We lost three or four men killed, and a few 
horses." It was in support of this movement that we were re- 
called just as we were ready to enter upon the pontoons. 

The entire losses of the Fifth Corps were only 699, killed, 
wounded and missing. 

The respective entire losses of the two armies, Union and 
rebel, during the campaign, were thus officially given : Union 
loss, 17.197; rebel loss, 12,277. 

Of these 1,441 enlisted men and 165 officers were killed. 
In the Chancellorsville battles alone, from May i to 6, the 
killed were 118 officers and 964 enlisted men. The rebel loss 
did not include all their prisoners, and General Hooker reported 
that "we captured 5,000 men and fifteen colors, seven pieces of 
artillery and placed hors de combat 18,000 of the enemy's chosen 
troops." 

Comparatively, the rebel losses were heavier than the Union 
losses. Our losses occurred mainly in the Sixth Corps, in 
the capture of Fredericksburg and the battle at Salem Church ; 
and in the Third Corps under Sickles, in the assault on Jack- 
son's flank and the attempt to prevent his reunion with Lee. 
These losses were, in the Sixth Corps, 4,601, in the Third Corps 
4,039. All the other losses were distributed in the other five 
corps engaged, and cavalry, and it indicates how comparatively 
little they were brought into use. 

The entire forces under Lee were brought into action, 
every corps, division and brigade, at both points of contact ; and 
they exhausted their ammunition and their supplies. Hooker 
at no time delivered a general battle, and was outnumbered at 
every point of contact. 

I visited the battlefield of Chancellorsville twenty years 
after the battle was fought, with a number of the comrades of 
the 131st. The old Chancellor mansion known to the men, 
had been destroyed by fire in the battle, but a wooden, or partly 
wooden and partly brick dwelling, in no respect like the old 
mansion, had replaced it. We were taken in carriages from 
Fredericksburg, and passed over the plank road and turnpike, 
through a beautiful country. The scars of war were still plain- 
ly visible on the walls of the little Salem Church, but elsewhere 



214 HISTORY OF THE 

nearly all traces were obliterated. There were pretty farms, 
better than any elsewhere seen in Virginia. We approached 
our lines from the rebel side and it was some time before we 
could get our bearings ; but once at Chancellorsville we found 
little difficulty in locating the scenes of our part of the conflict. 
When we were in line of battle on Sunday, down in front of 
the white house, we were not very far from the woods in which 
Stonewall Jackson fell. The spot is along the pike west from 
Chancellorsville, less than a half mile, and was then marked by 
a large boulder ; since permanently by a monument. This was 
also the locality where Keenan's charge was made and the scene 
of the battle of Saturday night and Sunday morning, to the 
right and left of the road, where Berry and Stevens and 
Whipple were killed. We also followed the Mineral Spring 
road to the river, and found the lines thrown up by the Fifth 
Corps. Private D. C. Hogue, of Company B, one of the visitors, 
found on the line occupied by the 131st, one of our bayonets, of 
a peculiar pattern, which he greatly prized as a relic and took it 
with him. I picked up one of our old tin plates, which I sub- 
sequently presented to Post 58, G. A. R., at Harrisburg, where 
it occupies a place in the interesting musuem of that Post, prop- 
erly labeled and catalogued. Fires, which occasionally run over 
the wilderness, had consumed the trees and wood used in our 
fortifications, and only here and there were those lines plainly 
traceable. I visited the scene where our division was engaged 
on Sunday and the little peach orchard, where we lay under fire, 
in the opening about the white house ; also the vicinity of the 
junction of the Ely's ford and United States ford roads, the 
point so promptly taken by the Fifth Corps, when Howard's 
Eleventh Corps was flanked. Scarcely any traces were visible 
of the corduroy roads, as the timber was burned or decayed, and 
a, new growth of forest covered them. 

The ground in the vicinity of Hazel Grove, beyond Fair- 
view and the old cemetery, is the highest point and was the key 
to the field. When these were abandoned on Sunday by Gen- 
eral Hooker's orders, they were quickly seized by the enemy's 
artillery, after which Chancellorsville was untenable, and the 
divided wings of the enemy were united, to be again immediate- 
ly separated to crush Sedg^vick, who, just too late, appeared 
in the rear of Lee. The worn out troops of the Jackson column 
were left lying in Hooker's front, whilst the fresh columns, 
imder the direct command of Lee, about faced and fell upon and 
overwhelmed the Sixth Corps, re-occupied Fredericksburg and 
then again returned and confronted Hooker in his entrench- 
ments, but did not attack him. 



isrst PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



215 



The rain and floods— again the accidents of battle— now 
threatened Hooker's communications, and, unwilhng to hazard 
unnecessary dangers, against the advice of all the corps com- 
manders, except one, he withdrew, unmolested by his exhausted 
enemy. 

Probably no battle of the war gaye greater promise and 
offered greater opportunities, and none was more fruitless or 
misdirected than the battle of Chancellorsville. 

The Union army retired to their old camps, so ruthlessly 
destroyed ten days before, and the huts and quarters were soon 
inyiting, under the skill and industry of the troops, saddened, 
indeed, for the unreturning and suffering comrades, but no less 
hopeful of ultimate success. 

All the official reports and correspondence, of both sides, 
pertaining to both the Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville 
campaigns, are published in the "Rebellion Records, the 
fornier in volume XXI, and the latter in volume XXV. Both 
these campaigns were also investigated by the Committee on 
the Conduct of the War, the proceedings of which with full re- 
ports, were published in five volumes, among the Congressional 
documents. 

General Hooker issued the following order to the Army 

of the Potomac : _ 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
Camp near Falmouth, Va., May 6, 1863. 
General Orders, No. 49 : "The major general commanding 
tenders to this army his congratulations on its achievements ot 
the last seven days.' If it has not accomplished all that was ex- 
pected the reasons are well known to the army. It is sufficient 
to say' they were of a character not to be forseen or prevented 
by human sagacity or resource. 

"In withdrawing from the south bank of the Rappahan- 
nock before delivering a general battle to our adversaries the 
■ army has given renewed evidence of its confidence in itself and 
its fidelity to the principles it represents. In fighting at a dis- 
advantage, we would have been recreant to our trust, to our- 
selves, our cause and our country. 

"Profoundly loyal, and conscious of its strength, the Army 
of the Potomac will give or decline battle, whenever its interests 
or honor may demand. It will also be the guardian of its own 
history and its own fame. 

"By our celerity and secrecy of movement, our advance 



216 HISTORY OF THE 

and passage of the rivers were undisputed, and on our with- 
drawal not a rebel ventured to follow. 

"The events of the last week may swell with pride the heart 
of every officer and soldier of this army. We have added new 
lustre to its former renown. We have made long marches, 
crossed rivers, surprised the enemy in his entrenchments, and 
whenever we have fought have inflicted heavier blows than we 
have received. 

"We have taken from the enemy 5,000 prisoners, captured 
and brought off seven pieces of artillery, fifteen colors, placed 
hors dc combat 18,000 of his chosen troops, destroyed his depots 
filled with vast amounts of stores, deranged his communica- 
tions, captured prisoners within the fortifications of his capital, 
and filled his country with fear and consternation. 

"We have no other regret than that caused by the loss of 
our brave companions, and in this we are consoled by the con- 
viction that they have fallen in the holiest cause ever submitted 
to the arbitrament of battle." By command of 

Major-General Hooker. 
S. Williams^ Assistant Adjutant-General. 

I take the following extract from the official report of Gen- 
eral Meade, our corps commander : 

"To my division commanders, Generals Sykes, Humphrey 
and Griffin, I have to return my thanks for their prompt and 
hearty support throughout the ten days' campaign. 

"To the men under their command, I cannot adequately ex- 
press the satisfaction with which I witnessed their ready and 
cheerful obedience to all orders, their submission to every priva- 
tion and exposure — night marches in mud and rain^ fording 
deep streams, using the axe and the spade even more than the 
musket, and ready at all times to go forward and meet the 
enemy. It is such service as this that tries and makes and 
proves the real soldier. I wish to bear testimony to the credit 
due the Fifth Corps for its services. The conduct of Sykes' 
Division, on the ist of May, when in advance, on the old pike 
road, when they met and drove back, and then held in check the 
enemy's advance, of superior numbers, was a brilliant operation, 
adding to the already well-earned reputation of that gallant 
body of soldiers. So, also, to Tyler's and Allabach's Brigades 
of Humphrey's Division, to meet the advancing columns of the 
enemy, flushed with the success of having compelled our line to 
fall back, was in the highest degree creditable." 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



217 



BACK TO THE OLD CAMP. 

Affain the two armies had resumed their operations in hos- 
tile camps around Fredericksburg, as before the battle. Hooker 
had been unsparing in his opposition to General Burnside, and 
his plan of battle, but he bore strong evidence m the latter s ta- 
vor when he returned to Fredericksburg, and very emphatically, 
when he proposed to cross there and renew the battle. 

The same vigils were kept up on our picket lines, and the 
same routine of camp duties were performed m camp, and the 
same rounds of varied pastimes were indulged m by all save 
the ^o GOO killed, wounded and missing, of both sides, who a 
few davs ago were in these same camps with their comrades 
Ah! the poor fellows. It was different with them. What 
next ? 

Burnside's plan of crossing at Fredericksburg, flanking Lee's 
position and fighting his army on the open grounds beyond, did 
not seem as impracticable to many officers of the Army of the 
Potomac as it once did ; but those critics had been silenced by 
the orders of the President, in the first place, and finally sealed by 
the logic of events. Lee's army must henceforth be the objec- 
tive His losses he cannot replace. His towns and his strong- 
holds are otherwise of comparative litde importance. This 
was the lesson learned by the Army of the Potomac and the 
country The efifect upon the rebels was dififerent. They were 
inordinately elated by their unexpected and undeserved suc- 
cess and the reports of their officers indicate that they much 
underrated their enemy, and it led them to grief. J^e entire 
Confederacv was clamorous for an advance upon the North 
and Lee was literallv driven to believe that he could defy the 
Army of the Potomac, and transfer the war to Pennsylvania. 

The defeats of McClellan's army on the Peninsula and 
Pope's army before Washington, caused by the prevailing de- 
moralization among the officers, had misled Lee to take the of- 
fensive then, and his defeats at South Mountain and Antietam 
were his astonishing answers. So the battle of Gettysburg be- 
came the terrible penaltv of his belief that he defeated Hooker s 
army at Chancellorsville, which he had not met m battle. 
Grant and Meade practically adopted the Burnside plan and un- 
ceasingly fell upon the rebel army wherever it took position, al- 
ways in some stronghold, until the end came. 

Hooker's seemingly inexcusable determination to retreat, 
before offering battle, was not so great an error as was Lees 
purpose to advance and transfer the war to the North, which 



218 HISTORY OF THE 

proved an irreparable loss, based upon the inexcusable folly of 
believing his troops invincible. 

The Christian and sanitary commissions, by their heroic 
and humane ofifices, wrote a glittering page upon the history of 
the war for the Union. I visited some of our hospitals, but 
was never sick a day, and was never an inmate, but the records, 
as they are now preserved in the reports of these commissions, 
should not be overlooked by the reader of the story of the 
slaveholders' rebellion. 

In General Allabach's report of the battle of Chancellors- 
ville he makes the statement that negro skirmishers were in the 
rebel columns in front of his brigade, when he engaged them in 
front of the Chancellor house. 

GOING HOME. 

Under the inspiring influences of the beautiful spring 
season our camps were improved, and the soldiers recovered from 
the effects of the toil, sufferings and exposure of the recent cam- 
paign. But orders from headquarters were read upon dress pa- 
rade which fixed our term of enlistment and notice was given 
that the 131st should finally be mustered and their term of ser- 
vice would expire between the 9th and 20th days of May. 
Some correspondence followed this announcement and objec- 
tion was made, as the orders of the War Department fixed upon 
the date of the muster in of the last co'mpany of a regiment, as 
the date for computing its term, for its final muster out. But it 
was not deemed important, as the men had not objected to re- 
main for the battle of Chancellorsville, although many of them 
had then more than filled their term of service. The date of the 
enlistment of Company A was July 25, 1862, and the company 
was mustered into the United States service Aug. 6. and no 
company later than Aug .14. It was the universal practice of 
the government throughout the war to muster out the troops 
promptly upon the expiration of their term of enlistment. 
"Three years, or the war" was decided to mean "not longer 
than three years ;" and all those troops thus enlisted were 
promptly discharged at the expiration of three years. But a 
very large proportion of the officers and men who were mus- 
tered out soon re-entered the service, non-commissioned officers 
and privates afterwards recruiting companies and leading them 
successfully, and officers were commissioned to higher ranks 
and rejoined the army. In some instances entire regiments re- 
enlisted, with few exceptions, after a brief furlough. 

Among the belated official notices which reached us was 



J3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



219 



one announcing the honorable discharge from the service of 
Private James Rohrabach, of Company A, who had long been 
absent from his company on accont of illness. He was dis- 
charged for disabilitv at the convalescent camp, Fairfax Semi- 
nary Va., bv Lieut.-Col. Samuel McKelvey, Dec. 9. 1862. 

' We also much regretted the discharge of Private Frank Wil- 
son, Company A, on account of continued disability at Camp 
Humphrey, near Falmouth. Va., which occurred on April I3tn, 
by order of Major-General Meade. 

Lieut Grant T. Waters, of Company K, wounded at Fred- 
ericksburg, and long in the hospital with illness, was honorably 
discharged, on March 7. But our sick comrades also served 
their country . 

"It was noble to give battle 

While the world stood cheering on ; 
It was nobler to lie patient 
Leaving half one's work undone. 

Right above the narrow bedside, 

Where the wan, white face grew calm, 

Bent invisible, bright angels 
With the laurel and the palm ! 

No pages of our war history are more intensely interesting 
than those which contain the annals of our prisons and hos- 
pitals ; no heroism is more inspiring than the story of the noble 
patriotic and suffering soldiers, and the lofty devotion which 
was exhibited bv those who ministered to their wants No m- 
famv is more deeplv dyed with guilt than the story of the mas- 
sacre of defenseless Union soldiers, and their starvation and 
pitiful death and sufferings in rebel prisons. 

On the 13th of Mav Major Patton, commanding the regi- 
ment, was notified that the 131st Regiment was ordered to Har- 
risburg Pennsylvania, to be mustered out, on account of the 
expiration of its term of service, and that a reqmsition for 
transportation be made at once. It was found that there were 
present 703 enlisted men and 34 officers, for which transporta- 
tion was required, and for eight horses. 

The last day and night was an occasion long to be remem- 
bered The associations, so intense in their interest, the ties ot 
comradeship, so tender yet so strong, were not to be flippantly 
severed. Those who thoughtfully looked out upon the old hi s 
of Stafford, the distant steeples of old Fredenckslnirg the hi Is 
and the flickering lights of the rebel camp fires beyond, and he 
o-orv battlefields where we left so many of our comrades, as they 
t^ook their last look, doubtless sent forth mingled ejaculations of 



220 HISTORY OF IHE 

hope, pity and curses, on account of the unparalleled crime of 
rebellion, and the "wayward sons" by whom it was brought 
about. But the soldier's better emotions prevailed and the 
heart was made tender when he looked out upon the great Army 
of the Potomac, covering hill and valley, up and down the banks 
of the beautiful Rappahannock, and reflected that that army 
would, sooner or later, capture and utterly defeat Lee and his army 
and restore our country. As we strolled on that lovely May even- 
ing we heard the mingled strains of "Yankee Doodle" from a 
band on our side^ and "Dixie" from the other, and no doubt the 
hearts of thousands of soldiers on both sides, as they listened, 
were made tender as both played "Home, Sweet Home." This 
was succeeded by sounds of voices from the rebel camps, doubt- 
less from some evening service by some faithful chaplain, who 
closed with the familiar tune of "Old Hundred." And from 
the camps of the New England boys down the river came the 
same mellowing sounds, but louder and clearer the tune of 
"America" was heard upon the soft spring breezes like a 
prophecy and a benediction. All these could be heard and seen, 
and were repeated upon both sides of the river, up and down 
for twenty miles, where these two great armies were going to 
sleep ; and was it a wonder that a soldier felt the reluctance 
which, unbidden, overshadowed his spirits as he lingered and 
looked and listened to his last farewell to his army companions 
— and our work only half done ! Officers and men alike seemed 
keen in their full appreciation of the event which was to take 
place on the morrow. Then the last "tattoo" sounded, and 
"lights out," and the 131st soldiers wrapped themselves in their 
blankets for the last time, as a regiment, and gave themselves — 
some to sad retrospection and tears ; some to rapturous antici- 
pation : some to cards, to song, to story and some to sleep : 

"Sleep, soldiers, still in honored rest, 

Your truth aud valor wearing ; 
The bravest are the tenderest. 

The loving are the daring. 
They sang of love and not of fame, 

Forgot was martial glory ; 
Each heart recalled a different name, 

But all sang Annie Laurie." 

Colonel Allabach now retvu-ned to the regiment. He did 
not assume command, however, as he considerately desired 
to honor Major Patton, who commanded the regiment so well 
during the campaign just ended, and also at Fredericksburg, 
and was justly popular with the men. Lieutenant-Colonel 
Shaut was directed to be carried to the railroad bv ambulance, 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 221 

and Major Patton to take charge of the regiment upon its re- 
turn to Harrisburg. It was announced that a tram would be m 
readiness and we would go to Aquia Creek that day, where a 
■steamer would receive us, by which we would be conveyed to 
Washington City. Thus, on the 14th of May, 1863, we bid 
adieu to the Army of the Potomac. 

There was nothing of interest to see on our way to the Po- 
tomac Many of the men were deep down in the hold of the 
vessel and saw nothing on the way. The country lymg between 
the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, down to the Chesapeake 
Bay is known as the "Northern Neck," in the history of Vir- 
ginia Its colonial history was full of interest. It was the 
birthplace and earlv home of Washington, and at that time one 
of the best improved and most important sections of country ; 
but now it was probably a representation of the other extreme. 
The very sport of such historical interest as the birthplace of the 
Father of his Countrv, was scarcely known and was marked 
onlv by a stone, as you would mark the boundary of adjoining 
farms ' Here and there mav be found remains of the old co- 
lonial homes, brick structures, the materials imported from 
Encrland • but the degenerate sons of these colonial sires were 
ove^'r the river, fighting against the Stars and Stripes, for an 
upstart slave oligarchv, with a Confederacy which would make 
slavery the corner stone of the new national structure. Nature 
indeed had been lavish with this beautiful, low-land tidewater 
Virginia, and one could not help the intrusion of the thought 
expressed in the good old hymn : 

"Where every prospect pleases, 
And only man is vile." 

Slavery not only degraded the poor victims, but it de- 
bauched the slave holders and impoverished the very soil, which 
was now waste and insect-infected and so forbidding. 

The great bridge over the Potomac creek was pointed out 
as a matter of engineering skill, quite creditable to the efficiency 
of General Haupt, and his corps of engineers, who had charge 
of the railroads. It was constructed in six days, just before 
Burnside made Belle Plain and Aquia Creek the base of sup- 
plies having twice before been burned by the rebels. The bridge 
was four stories high and seemed so frail that it could not bear 
the great trains which spun over it and made it swing and 
tremble. 

All along the way were the camps of old soldiers of the 
Army of the Potomac. The passing to and fro of troops was 



222 HISTORY OF THE 

of such a common occurrence that there was Httle notice taken 
of their passing ; but our boys were bidding "good-bye" to 
everybody and everything, and when it became known that our 
troops were returning home, it usuaUy awakened some ener- 
getic recognition along the way. 

"We remembered the drilling, the marching and fighting, 

The camp life, the battles, the breastworks and all ; 
We remembered the "Johnnies," the bee hives and chickens ; 

Remembered the quinine, and the orderly's call. 
But none were more welcome or longed for at night, 

By sick, weary, worn and true loyal men ; 
For every one turned with a longing desire 

To the little "pup" tent that sheltered us then. 
The old shelter tent, the humble "dog" tent. 

The little "pup" tent that sheltered us then." 

I think nothing was forgotten, for they bid good-bye even 
to the "Johnnies" on the other side, and to the old picket lines, 
to the old army huts, to the old parade grounds, the company 
streets, the old tin plates, the pesky little rabbits and 'coons and 
"varmints" along the picket line, that used to scamper by and 
make as much noise as a rebel battery and cause the hair of the 
lonely sentinel to stand erect upon his head, until he found out 
what it was all about. Thus we passed out of sight and our 
regimental association with the army was ended. 

The steamer was awaiting us and we were immediately 
transferred for the voyage up the Chesapeake Bay and the Po- 
tomac river to Washington. This was a new experience to 
many of the men and was keenly appreciated, although the 
crowded state in which we found ourselves was not calculated 
to bring about the greatest possible enjoyment of the ride. The 
river is wide almost as the bay, and little could be seen along 
either the \'irginia or Maryland shores. There are no busy, 
thriving little towns or cities. Even from Fredericksburg 
down that beautiful, navigable stream, for more than lOO 
miles, there is not a city, and scarcely a settlement sufficient to 
entitle it to the name of a village. No wonder the assassin of 
Abraham Lincoln escaped to this forbidding, lonely, rebellious 
region, and hoped for safety and support. As we passed 
Mount Vernon the bell of the vessel was solemnly tolled, as is 
the custom for all war vessels in passing by the home of Wash- 
ington, whose remains rest here in its quiet and peaceful shades. 
We soon after came in sight of Alexandria, where many of our 
number began their war records when the Union troops 
first passed into Virginia and occupied this city, when the gal- 
lant Ellsworth was sacrificed. We remembered how the beau- 
tiful groves were leveled and the grim forts were constructed ; 



iSist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



223 



how the rebel citizens heaped all kinds of indignities upon us ; 
how we found the slave pens, still filled with victims often the 
fruits of slave drivers' excursions north to enforce and illustrate 
the beauties and virtues of the "fugitive slave law ;" how gaily 
we went forth in the early July of '6 1, on the march to Bull 

Run, and how we returned ! 

We also recognized the locality of our first service with the 
n I St Regiment. We had completed the circle— from near 
Alexandria out towards the vicinity and the sounds from the 
second battle of Bull Run— back to Washington, north to the 
Monocacy and to Frederick City, to South Mountain and An- 
tietam, to Harper's Ferry, through Louden Valley to Snicker s 
Gap, to Fredericksburg, to Chancellorsville, to ^ta^tord 
Heights and the Potomac Creek, across the Northern Neck to 
Belle Plain and Aquia Creek and to the Potomac ; and now we 
were nearing again our great capitol of the country, the safety 
of which had the second time necessitated the call for short 
term enlistments. 

We reached Washington without accident or incident of 
especial interest, and remained only long enough for the trans- 
action of some necessarv official business pertaining to the clos- 
ing out of division and brigade associations, and to secure trans- 
portation to Harrisburg. After a little delay this was provid- 
ed and we were again upon that great military highway, the 
Northern Central railroad, under orders to go into camp at 
Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where we would leave 
our arms and equipments and be duly mustered out of the ser- 
vice Upon our arrival there we were furnished with tents 
and rations, and we immediately proceeded to make out our 
muster rolls, with full statement of accounts, preparatory to 
final payment and honorable discharge from the service of the 
United States. . . 

Relieved from the exacting duties and the vigorous discip- 
line of armv life in the field, officers and men gave themselves 
over very freely to the inviting and peaceful social conditions ot 
the capital of our native State. The officers had practically the 
freedom of the city and large liberties were indulged in by all 
the men. 

There were seething hotbeds of inquity in Harrisburg. as 
the outcome of her large consignments of recruits, as well as the 
great masses of passing soldiers who were detained for bnet 
periods, without both the restraints of the army and of social lite, 
which unfortunately made victims of some of the returning sol- 
diers But it must be said of the men of the 131st, who were 



224 HISTORY OF THE 

now at their homes, that few gave themselves over to the baser 
indulgences which so deeply disgraced the city of Harrisburg. 

Many of the returning regiment had friends and acquaint- 
ances, of high social connection, and Harrisburg's fairer side 
of life, who will recall our stay there with keen gratification, as 
well as pardonable pride in the lofty patriotism of her people 
and the warmth of their affection for the men who had ofifered 
their lives in defense of our imperiled government. 

The making up of the muster out rolls was hastened with 
all possible speed, bvit the accounting of the large stores and 
lists of supplies of arms and clothing, was necessarily a tedious 
and laborious effort. Delays, too, were occasioned by the ab- 
sent, sick or wounded, who were returned to their regiment 
here, from all the various hospitals and camps, where these 
soldiers had been detained. They were sent here to be mustered 
out with their respective companies, and in some instances oc- 
casioned delay. 

Many of the returning men while in Camp Cuftin entered 
into arrangements to re-enter the service at an early day, some 
of the officers and others to join old regiments in the Army of 
the Potomac, and in all branches of the service. 

On the 24th day of May the regiment had completed its 
rolls and the last company had been mustered out of service, 
when we were addressed by Governor Andrw G. Curtin, who 
welcomed us on our return and complimented officers and men 
for the service they had rendered the State and the Nation, and 
the satisfactory manner this service was performed by the 
131st Pennsylvania. 

Transportation having been provided, it was announced 
that next day the companies of the Juniata and the West Branch 
would take their respective trains for the several towns and cit- 
ies for Home. 



[ From the Mifflinburg Telegraph, May 28, 1863.] 

WELCOME HOME. 

RETURN OF THE I3IST PENNSYLVANIA VOL-UNTEERS. 

For more than a week everyone was on the qui vive and 
the absorbing topic was "the soldiers." Early on Monday 
morning, the 25th, a dispatch was received at Lewisburg an- 
nouncing that Company A with the 131st Regiment, would 
leave Harrisburg at 1 1 o'clock a. m. The messenger bringing 
the dispatch arrived here at noon, too late for a general turn out 




CAPT. CHARL,ES B. DAVIvS, 
Commanding Company G. 



ijist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 225 

of our citizens to go to Lewisburg, and but few from the upper 
end of the countv received the intelhgence till late at night, thus 
they were deprived of participating in the demonstration that all 
had resolved upon making when the "boys" should return. At 
Lewisburg everything indicated some gladsome event. Fublic 
places were decorated with flowers and evergreens, everywhere 
the Stars and Stripes were flung to the breeze, the streets were 
crowded— all with a hearty welcome for the returning soldiers, 
sons, husbands and lovers : 

"To the friends who smile to meet you ; 

To the homes which wait to greet you ; 

To the arms which long to press you ; 

To the hearts which love and bless you ; 

To your fathers, children, brothers ; 

To your sweethearts, wives and mothers — 
Welcome 1" 

At 6 o'clock, p. m., the wires announced the approach of 
the train at Montandon, and the ringing of bells and the cheer- 
ing at the station indicated their arrival. The scene which fol- 
lowed bafiles discription. As soon as order could be restored 
Company A was formed and received the formal welcome ad- 
dress by Capt. C. C. Shorkley, who said : 

"Returned volunteers : One of the greatest sources of wealth 
to a free government is the patriotism of the people. We have 
evidences of the truth of this fact, from the Revolution to the 
present time. We have with us soldiers of the war of i«i2, 
whose patriotic impulses prompted them to sustain the Stars 
and Stripes at that time. We bring them here to-day, to do 
them honor for what they did for their country long ago Nme 
months ago vou turned your faces towards the enemy of our 
country, leaving manv friends behind with tearful eye. Those 
tears were not shed so much on account of your departure as 
for the fear that you might never return, for we knew the dan- 
gers to which you must be necessarily exposed on the battle- 
fields You left your quiet homes and firesides to enter upon 
the active duties of a soldier and a military life and to submit to 
military discipline. You have undergone the rigors of _ the 
camp and the hardships and privations of summer and winter 
campaigns. You have heard the booming of the enemy s can- 
non almost upon our own borders, at Antietam Some of ti.'^ 
who are here also heard it at the same time, but luckily for us, 
we were far enough ofif to be out of danger. You have wit- 
nessed the ravages and desolation brought about bv the ruthless 
hand of war— fields made desolate and homes made tenantless. 
The thanks of all the people are due to those who volunteered to 



226 HISTORY OF THE 

protect Us and our homes, and to sustain the majesty of this 
government. 

"Soldiers, you heard the roar of cannon and musketry at 
Fredericksburg. You witnessed the smoke of the battlefield, 
and saw your comrades fall at your side. Yes, Fredericksburg 
will long be remembered by you, and should you in after years 
visit the Rappahannock you will drop a tear on its banks where 
your brave comrades so freely shed their patriotic blood, and 
died defending that old flag and this government. The reminis- 
cences will be pleasant in after years. See those old men 
who defended this government long ago ! Their locks are 
whitenend with age, and we honor them for what they have 
done. You will be remembered for what you have done to aid 
in suppressing this most unjust and unholy rebellion. 

"You are tired, and I will not detain you longer. And 
now, in the name and in behalf of the citizens of Lewisburg, and 
of Union county, I welcome you home again, and trust that you 
will, from all, receive a hearty welcome." 

Captain Orwig briefly responded to this cordial address, 
and expressed their gratitude to the vast assemblage and organ- 
ized bodies, as follows : 

"Friends: I would be false to the impulses of my own 
heart, and unjust to my command, if I did not respond to this 
truly warm and generous greeting. 

"This indeed,, far surpasses any anticipation, and, in behalf 
of the soldiers of the 131st Regiment here, I thank you for this 
'Welcome home.' 

"We have endeavored to do our duty, as soldiers, in the 
cause of the Union and in the defense of the right. We are glad 
that our conduct meets with your approval, in such an enthus- 
iastic manner. Again, on behalf of the company and my com- 
rades in arms, I thank you for this cheering reception." 

The throng which had gathered again gave cheer upon 
cheer and then joined in the vast procession which made its way 
to Lewisburg. The organized bodies, marshalled by Captain 
Shorkley, were formed in the following order : 

Marshall, C. C. Shorkley, and Aids, C. W. Schafile, A. M. 
Lawshe ; Color bearer and color guard; soldiers of 1812, Com- 
panys B and C, Third Regiment, minute men, as an escort ; 
Company A, 131st P. V., the returning volunteers; Burgess 
and Council of Lewisburg ; the Clergy ; Court and County of- 
ficers ; members Union County Bar ; Faculty and Students of 
Lewisburg University ; Citizens ; Cavalry. 



1 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 227 

As the column entered the streets of Lewisburg the sol- 
diers' pathway was literally strewn with flowers, and streets and 
residences were covered with flags and bunting, and loud and 
long were the acclamations of joy and welcome which every- 
where greeted the returning heroes. 

The procession passed up Market street as far as Fifth 
street, and countermarched until the column reached the great 
willow tree at the Strawbridge mansion, near Third street. 

The President of the Universitv, Rev. Dr. Curtis, was an- 
nounced as the speaker chosen to address the vast assemblage 
and formally welcomed our soldiers home in the following ad- 
dress : 

•'Gentlemen: At this late hour there is but one word 
that needs to be said, or can be said. It matters little by whom 
it is pronounced, for it is in every heart, and expressed by the 
large assembly here present in every look and gesture. 1 hat 
word is WELCOME ! 

"You went out at a time of a great crisis, to assist in crush- 
inJT the most gigantic and wicked of all rebellions recorded m 
history While you have been gone, fighting bravely m the 
field the tide, it seems to me, has in many respects completely 
turned and vour labors have been contributing to turn it. When 
you went, for instance, it appeared to be a matter of serious 
doubt whether a free government like ours, without the aid ot 
foreign capital, could continue a great struggle like the present 
pecuniarily. Europe and her capitalists and politicians said and 
believed that we must break down. In this respect at least the 
tide has turned, the crisis has passed, and we can borrow, and 
are borrowing, from our own citizens, two million dollars per 
day with the greatest ease. 

"Fortunately, too, we are slowly but steadily gaining in 
the rebellion. Our cavalry raids sweep through the very heart 
of the most rebellious districts of Mississippi, and your 
train brings the news of the probable capture of the heights 
around Vicksburg, if not Vicksburg itself. 

"The struggle of the last nine months has established the 
permanence and authority of the government, the independent 
right of nations, and strengthens the cause of liberty in pub c 
sentiment throughout the globe. It is. and has been from the 
first, one of the greatest struggles of history and your friends 
all of them— your wives, mothers, sisters and children, down to 



228 HISTORY OF THE 

distant generations — will remember and speak with pride of the 
part you have taken in the war, in which every true soldier has 
covered himself with glory. 

"When this war began there were but few — I can hardly 
think of more than one — who fully and yet properly conceived 
of the gigantic proportions this contest might and must assume. 
I allude to my distinguished friend, Gen. Simon Cameron, who 
is, I am happy to know, here present. But there is not one of 
you, gentlemen, and brave soldiers, but who saw in this strug- 
gle enough to fill your souls and fire your hearts, and call you 
to put your lives in your hands, and, leaving everything most 
dear to you on earth, go forth to take part in the dangers, and 
the honor of stemming the current of rebellion, and turning the 
tide of our national afifairs. For such now there is but one 
word to be pronounced — 'Welcome !' " 

Long continued cheering for the speaker, for General 
Cameron and for Company A followed this timely address by 
President Curtis. 

Captain Orwig was again called for and was conducted to 
the stage and introduced, and made acknowledgement of their 
appreciation of these honors in the following remarks t othe vast 
assemblage and distinguished friends : 

"Friends: I can only say that this is indeed a flattering 
manifestation and no words that I can command can express 
our appreciation and our feelings of joy and gratitude, for all 
this is overwhelming. I can but believe it is rather the great 
cause we represent, than anything we have done, or could do, 
that has brought here such masses of friends and created such 
enthusiasm. 

"Coming as we do, so lately from the battlefields and the 
seat of war, it swells our hearts to see the gloriously loyal spirit 
which moves the great masses at home. I can assure you, how- 
ever, that you but share the feelings of our comrades in arms. 
There can be no more cause for fears of an inglorious com- 
promise with treason, nor of failure to restore the Union. I see 
that the people are but rising in their majesty, and we see the 
enemy quaking with thick thronging disasters. There is still a 
line of brave lads and strong leaders, strong in numbers, en- 
circling the Confederacy, and strong in the righteousness of their 
cause and their arms, of whom we need not fear for final suc- 
cess. They are not tired of the war, but they will plant that 
flag over every state of our Federal Union. 

"Though we return to you, it is not because we are tired of 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



229 



the war, nor of battling for our country. Many of these men 
were out in the three months' service, and I speak knowmgly 
when I say, for every one of our number, that we are ready, 
even now,' should the condition of our country necessitate an- 
other call" for soldiers, to respond to its call and to continue to 
fight her battles to victorv. Though suffering much and endur- 
ing many hardships and dangers, we still remember that we 
owe all we have to our country. Only the remembrance of 
those of our numbers who went forth with us so hopefully nine 
months ago, and are not here, can mar the feeling of joy to-day. 
They are the heroes and martyrs ! Four of them sleep in the 
honored grave of the soldier in recreant Virginia, and one 
'neath the sods of your own Buffalo Valley. 

"They lay like a warrior taking his rest, 
With his martial cloak around him." 

"And now, to you, the brave men of my command, I must 
say a parting word. You have well and zealously performed 
your duty. I can say no more than has been said, that would 
add to your laurels. The President, your commanding officers 
in the field, have personally and in General Orders, repeatedly 
complimented you, and the Governor of your State yesterday 
called you before him and personally addressed you, and said 
"Well done" in behalf of all the people of the Commonwealth. 
And now and here our friends at home endorse your actions and 
so warmly bid you welcome home. This is an event, for me 
and for each of you, that we should cherish as one of the 
proudest moments of our lives, and a happy culmination of 
trials and dangers of the camp, the wearisome marches, in 
bivouac and on the battlefields. It richly compensates us for 
all. We are about to part and this is the last formation of 
Company A. Longing, anxious hearts, are waiting to wel- 
come you to your own firesides. Go, but let me as a last com- 
mand bid you remember that you have a reputation to maintani. 
As you esteem martial valor let no act of yours tarnish your fair 
name. Farewell, soldiers ! To all these organized bodies, of- 
ficials, comrades and citizens, you have our most grateful 
thanks." 

A substantial repast was awaiting the returning soldiers at 
the Riviere House, where the Company now repaired, many of 
them fairly carried awav by enthusiastic and loving friends who 
had been long waiting to personally greet them, and the great 
throng gradually dispersed. The dining room was gaily fes- 
tooned and the table was richly laden with the choicest and best 



230 HISTORY OF THE 

— a happy contrast, they all said, from the army ration, "hard 
tack" and "salt junk." 

Thus terminated a day long to be remembered by all who 
were so fortunate as to be present — and one, no doubt, that will 
ever awaken pleasant recollections in the years to come in the 
minds of the honored recipients of these marked favors and 
evidences of gratitude. It was a reception worthy of our brave 
soldiers and creditable to the citizens of Lewisburg, and of 
Union county. 

Captain Orwig and Lieutenants Kepler and Fichthorn 
shared the confidence and esteem of their men in no small de- 
gree, as the affectionate leave-taking clearly exemplified. 

Before parting finally, and during the happy after-dinner 
speeches, they all united themselves with the Lewisburg Union 
League, and many of them gave their views upon some of the 
general questions of the day, after which the following resolu- 
tions were passed without a dissenting voice : 

Resolved, That we declare our hearty approval of every 
measure that the government has adopted calculated to increase 
the effective power of our armies, or to impair the strength of 
the enemy. 

Resolved, That the employment of the slaves of their rebel 
owners in aid of the Armies of the United States is a measure 
of such a nature ; and in view of the fact that colored soldiers 
were employed in the defense of the country by Washington, in 
the war of the Revolution, and by Jackson in the war of 1812, 
we can conceive of no opposition to colored aid, save that to be 
expected from those who prefer the protection of their slave 
properly to the speedy suppression of the rebellion and the 
consequent restoration of our former peace and prosperity. 

Resolved, That we hereby extend our warmest sympathy, 
as we have always yielded our enthvisiastic support and admira- 
tion, to our brother soldiers, the comrades remaining in the 
field, and promise that, while they are braving the open enemy 
in front, we will discriminate and rebuke any and all secret 
enemies in the rear. 

Resolved, That in proof of the sincerity of our declara- 
tion,, we will enroll our names as members of the Lewisburg 
Union League, and pledge our lives, our fortunes and our 
sacred honor, to the preservation of our Constitution, the per- 
manency and prosperity of our Union, the support of our Gov- 
ernment, and the safety, honor and welfare of the people of the 
United States. 



131 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 231 

[ Extract from the Star and Chronicle.] 

"The nine months' vohniteers belonging to Hartleton and 
the adjoining townships arrived here late on Monday night the 
2Sth inst Arrangements were immediately made to give them 
a reception in the afternoon of the following day. The interest 
energy and activity manifested by the ladies of Hartleton and 
vicinity in making preparations for the splendid repast, reflect 
no small degree of honor upon Hartleton. It speaks well for 
the patriotism; it shames out treason, and seems to say, 'Crush 
out the Rebellion !' 

"The variety and abundance of the good things prepared 
we think could not under similar circumstances, be surpassed 
bv any other race. The respectable number of people m at- 
tendance ; the quietness and good order ; the sociability and 
cheerfulness manifested on the occasion ; the graceful proce^s- 
sion of the little band of soldiers to the place prepared for the 
repast ; the beautiful, soul-thrilling, patriotic song, which was 
twice repeated ; the cheers for the Union, for the soldiers, and 
for the ladies— are all of material interest and worthy of note. 
The most we had to regret, was that our worthy friend. Captain 
Or wig, who commanded Company A, 131st Regiment, was not 
present to participate with us, and to give us an address suit- 
able to the very interesting occasion. W. G. 
"Hartleton, Pa., May 28, 1863." 

What is portrayed here as to the reception of Company A 
at Lewisburg and Hartleton was duplicated at Williamsport 
on the return of Companies G and I, a banquet having been 
given in the corridors of the court house, and similar recep- 
tions at the homes of the other companies of the regiment. 



The reader will trace in these pages the story of the 131st 
Pennsylvania Regiment from the recruiting to the muster out 
and the welcome home. No member of this organization will 
fail to recall its progress as he reads these pages. Many of the 
officers and men served with honor in the three months service, 
and many also re-entered the service and fought and served in 
various regiments throughout the war. 

To commit such honorable record to posterity will be a 
soothing comfort to everv participant in this great war for the 
Union against the slaveholders' rebellion from 1861 to 1865. 

Happily, as we write, the bitterness of that unexampled war 
has been almost obliterated, and a Union of hearts as well as 
a union of States is assured. "One flag, one land, one heart, 



232 HISTORY OF THE 

one nation, evermore." We have seen the fruition of the hopes 
of the men who in their official capacity, as the responsible 
agents, and as soldiers and citizens, stood to their duty and 
through an unexampled war maintained the principle, so 
matchlessly expressed by Lincoln, the great leader, at Gettys- 
burg: "The world will little note nor long remember what we 
say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for 
us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work 
that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us 
here to dedicate to the task remaining before us, that from these 
honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which 
they here gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here 
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That 
the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom, and 
that the government of the people, by the people and for the 
people, shall not perish from the earth." 



isnt PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 



233 



No one who was a soldier with the 131st Pennsylvania, 
who reads these pages, nor the friend of the unreturnmg com- 
rades can leave this story of a regiment without a thought or 
a tea; for those of our number who went forth so hopeful y. 
but fell by the way either in the storm of battle or by the in- 
sidious hand of disease, or accident. Many o^ ^^^^^ ^^^P^^^ 
"unknown" graves, some by the way where they fell, some 
in the National Cemeteries and some in cemeteries at home. 
The comradeship, the parental affeAion, their lofty Patriotism, 
is most touchingly expressed by the poet, Theodore O Kara, 
in "The Bivouac of the Dead," which we append : 



"BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD." 

The muffled drum's sad roll has beat 

The soldier's last tattoo ; 
No more on life's parade shall meet 

That brave and fallen few. 
On Fame's eternal camping ground 

Their silent tents are spread, 
And Glory guards, with solemn sound, 

The bivouac of the dead. 

The neighing troop, the flashing blade. 

The trumpet's stirring blast. 
The charge, the dreadful cannonade, 

The din and shout are past ; 
Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal. 

Shall thrill with fierce delight 
Those breasts that nevermore shall feel 

The rapture of the fight. 

***** 
Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead ! 

Dear as the blood you gave. 
No impious footsteps here shall tread 

The herbage of your grave ; 
Nor shall your glory be forgot 

While Fame her record keeps. 
Or Honor points the hallowed spot 

Where Valor proudly sleeps. 

Yon marble minstrel's voiceless stone 

In deathless song shall tell. 
When many a vanquished age hath flown. 

The story how ye fell ; , , ,1- t.* 

Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight. 

Nor Time's remorseless doom. 
Shall dim one ray of holy light 

That gilds your glorious tomb. 



234 



Washington, July 25, 1867, 

Capt. Chas. I. A. Chapman, late of the 131st Reg-iment, Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers, Pittston, Luzerne Co., Pa. 
Dear Sir: I have received yours of the 22d inst., making 
certain inquiries relating to the service of the 131st Regiment, 
Pennsylvania Volunteers. 

Copies of my reports upon the battles of Fredericksburg, 
December 13, 1862, and of Chancellorsville, May, 1863, in the 
former of which the division and regiment bore a conspicuous 
part, will be sent you for perusal and information so far as they 
relate to the regiment. Of course, these reports of mine cannot 
be published by you, but the information or phrases, general as 
well as special, relating to or bearing upon the regiment, its ser- 
vices or character, are at your service. The closing portion of 
my report upon Chancellorsville in which the character of the 
regiments forming the division, and the nature of their services 
are stated, is at your service. 

Substantially the same remarks were made by me in Gen- 
eral Orders when the regiments were ordered home for muster 
out, a copy of which Colonel Allabach will send you. 

The regiment was not detached at any time. It always 
did its duty promptly and thoroughly ; was well disciplined and 
effective on the field. Its colonel, P. H. Allabach, who com- 
manded the brigade to which the regiment belonged, was a 
thorough soldier ; a good disciplinarian, gallant, and a man to be 
relied upon under all circumstances. Very truly yours. 

A. A. Humphrey, 
Major General. 



APPENDIX. 



236 HISTORY OF THE 



ANNOUNCEMENT. 



Comrades : For more than twenty years we have enter- 
tained propositions at our annual reunions in one form or an- 
other for the preparation and publication of a History of the 
Regiment. But these occasions, so desirable and enjoyable, 
were not calculated for the transaction of important business of 
such a nature as that of the getting- up and publishing of a his- 
tory. Such an object requires an author and a publisher, and 
these required compensation. After many discussions of the 
subject, and many suggestions on the matter, the undersigned 
were appointed a committee on history, and to whom the whole 
matter was referred for adjustment and to bring about the de- 
sired object, namely, a History of the Regiment. A sub- 
committee of one comrade from each company to collect data-, 
etc., and report to the General or History Committee at the next 
reunion, which was held at Milton, December, 1895. Your 
general committee then issued a printed circular setting forth 
our purposes, which was widely distributed, but few responses 
were received, and the impracticability of securing a history by 
this means or by a general effort of the regiment seemed to de- 
termine that all our hopes must be abandoned. Your commit- 
tee, however, was again continued at the Milton meeting with 
the hope that material might be forthcoming with what we had 
to make a creditable history. Captain Orwig having the most 
of the data on hand it was given into his charge to weave it into 
a history. After knowing that the material was nearly all at 
hand the committee found that the necessary funds were not at 
hand with which to have the book printed. At the meeting at 
Selinsgrove pledges were given by individual members and by 
companies to endeavor to have the amount necessary for the 
cost of compiling and publishing it. Not enough was raised at 
that meeting. Your committee became discouraged, that after 
all the work which had been done it should now be abandoned. 
At the reunion at Muncv a final effort was made, and the 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 237 

amount pledged. The committee 'then sought a publisher, 
which was found in the office of The Williamsport Sun. The 
manuscript was received from the editor, Captain Orwig, 
and in looking over it what was our dismay to find it the history 
of but one of the companies to a large extent. Your commit- 
tee decided that this would not be just to the rest of the regi- 
ment, so we were compelled to go over the whole manuscript 
and put it into such form as would make it of general interest 
to the regiment. In this we were ably assisted by Sergt. W. 
F. Thompson, Comrades T. J. Funston and T. J. Ramsey, and 
for which we are exceedingly grateful. The History is now 
completed after many trials and discouragements. We have 
done the best we could under the circumstances. 

William Sweeley, 
M. L. Wagenseller, 
J. R. Orwig, 

Committee. 



238 HISTORY OF THE 



BIOGRAPHIES 



COL. PETER HOLLINGSHEAD ALLABACH. 

Col. Peter Hollingsheacl Allabach was born in Wilkes- 
Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, September 9th, 1824. 
His father was of the best and strongest German stock, and an 
early-time master builder and millwright. He was educated in 
the Wilkes-Barre Academy, and afterwards engaged with his 
father until the latter part of the year 1844, when his natural 
martial instincts led him to enter the army, and he enlisted for 
five years' service in the Regular Army, and was assigned to 
duty in Company E, Third United vStates Infantry. His regi- 
ment was ordered to Mexico, and he participated in every bat- 
tle during the war with Mexico, with but one exception — Buena 
Vista. 

For bravery and meritorious conduct, he was promoted to 
a sergeant after his first six months of service. 

After the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca, and Monterey, Ser- 
geant Allabach was transferred with his regiment to General 
Scott's Army at Vera Cruz. Continuing with this army, under 
General Twiggs, and subsequently under General Worth, he 
was in the engagements at National Bridge and Contreras, 
where at the latter named battle he planted the first flag upon 
the Mexican works. 

After the Treaty of Guadaloupe, he marched with his regi- 
ment to New Mexico, where he served until the expiration of 
his enlistment, and was honorably discharged November 25th, 
1849. Upon his return home he was tendered a public recep- 
tion and banquet. 

September 30th, 1851, he was married to Miss Nancy G. 
Blanchard, of Port Blanchard, Luzerne County, Pa. 

On the 6th of May, 1852, he was commissioned by Gover- 
nor Bigler, of Pennsylvania, Brigade Inspector of the Uni- 
formed Militia of Luzerne County. In 1853 he was appointed 
to a position in the United States mail service by Postmaster 
General Campbell, which he filled for seven or eight years with 
great credit. 

August 1 6th, 1862, he was commissioned by Governor 
Curtin, of Pennsylvania, Colonel of the 131st Regiment of 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and on reporting with his regiment 



1 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 239 

to Gen. A. A. Humphrey, he was assigned to the command as 
Brigadier General of the Second Brigade. Third Division, Fifth 
Corps, Army of the Potomac. His brigade consisted of the 
13 [St, 133rd, 123rd and 155th Regiments of Pennsylvania 
\'olunteers. 

In this capacity he served with honor at the second battle 
of Bull Run, Antietam, and Chancellorsville, and in the memor- 
able charge at the battle of Fredericksburg he led his brigade, 
and his bravery and tact that day won the personal commenda- 
tion of General Humphrey on the battlefield, and he was es- 
pecially mentioned in the official report of his commanding 
general. 

In the month of April, 1876, he was selected by Governor 
Hartranft, and appointed captain of Company E, Centennial 
Guards, which position he held during the progress of the In- 
ternational Exposition, in Philadelphia. 

In July, 1878, he was appointed Captain of the United 
States Capitol Police, which position he filled up to the time of 
his death, February nth, 1892. 

He was a man of commanding presence and soldierly bear- 
ing ; a strict disciplinarian ; a loyal patriot to his flag and coun- 
try ; one whose record is without blemish. He left a legacy 
more priceless than gold — 

That of an honest name. 



MAJOR ROBERT W. PATTON. 

The subject of this sketch was born at Lewistown, Mifflin 
County, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1834, in the old Lewistown 
Hotel, now occupied by the Express and Gazette offices ; was 
educated in the public schools and the Old Academy ; learned 
the watchmaking business with Michael Buoy; went to Phila- 
delphia and worked under instructions with a Mr. Herman in 
Second street, about a year. Returning home he again worked 
with Mr. Buoy for a time, then buying him out he conducted the 
business for himself. He was one of the originators of the 
Logan Guards, and was made first sergeant of the company. On 
the night of April 16, 1861, in answer to President Lincoln's call 
for three months' troops, he left home with the company, ar- 
riving at Harrisburg about daylight on the 17th, and was sent 
on to Washington on April i8th, along with four other com- 
panies from Pottsville, Reading and Allentown, passing 
through the mob at Baltimore, arriving at Washington the same 



240 HISTORY OF THE 

evening and occupying the Capitol building. He was elected 
second lieutenant of the company on April 20. His company 
was then ordered to Fort Washington, Maryland, where they 
remained until the expiration of their term of service. On re- 
turning home he again started in business, and subsequently was 
elected to the office of county treasurer. When the call for 
nine months' troops was made, he went to Harrisburg and was 
elected major of the 131st Regiment, and was in command a 
good part of the time. He was mustered out with the regiment 
after serving the full time. Major Patton was appointed post- 
master of Lewistown by President Grant, serving in that ca- 
pacity for a little more than twelve years. He then went West, 
where he remained for about sixteen months. Returning East 
he went to Washington, D. C, from whence he was sent to the 
New York assay office, where he has been for the past thirteen 
or fourteen years. 



CAPT. DAVID BLY. 

Captain David Bly died at his home, 720 West Fourth 
street, at 7 o'clock Tuesday evening. 

Captain Bly had been in ill health for some time past, suf- 
fering from an affliction of the heart. Though very ill he was 
not thought to be in immediate danger and death, when it came, 
was sudden and unexpected. 

He had been very weak, but was able to be up and about 
his room until a very short time before he died. On Tuesday 
morning he became worse, but even then not confined to his 
bed. He was very restless and moved about the room con- 
siderably. Shortly before he died he placed his hands over 
his heart and exclaimed that the pain was intense and that this 
must be the end. 

David Bly was born at White Deer, Union county. Pa., 
December 28, 1838. He was a son of John and Lydia 
(Rhoads) Bly, and was the second of a family of ten sons, four 
of whom participated in the war of the rebellion. 

He received a common school education, and at the age of 
17 began clerking in the store of Ario Pardee, of Watsontown, 
and was serving in that capacity when Lincoln made the first 
call for troops. He immediately enlisted in Company G, 
Eleventh Pennsylvania Volunteers, and served in the ranks 
three months. After his discharge he returned to Wat- 
sontown and resumed clerking. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 241 

In May, 1862, he received a commission from Governor 
Curtin as second lieutenant and recruitin"^ officer. He recruited 
131 men in Northumberland and Union counties, and early in 
August, 1862, he reported with his company at Camp Curtin, 
near Harrisburg. and was mustered in as Captain of Company 
B, 131st Pennesylvania Volunteers. 

Captain Bly served fourteen months, and besides various 
minor engagements, he participated in the battles of Second 
Bull Run, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg and 
Chancellorsville. 

After completing his service Captain Bly found employ- 
ment with the Philadelphia and Erie Railroad Company as civil 
engineer, and was assigned to the Western division, with head- 
cjuarters at Erie. His duties were confined principally to har- 
bor improvement, rights of way. etc., and he remained there un- 
til March, 1865. He then located in Pittsburg, and engaged in 
business as an oil broker, and afterwards operated a refinery. 
He was forced to abandon this l)usiness because of the aggres- 
sive and grasping actions of the Standard Oil Company, and re- 
tired from the oil trade in Pittsburg in 1877. He came to W'il- 
liamsport and engaged in the same business, but after a short 
period was again compelled to abandon it. 

Captain Bly then engaged in the marketing of bituminous 
coal, and in 1888 he organized the Kettle Creek Coal Mining 
Company. He served as first president of the company and for 
many years was its general manager. I'ntil within the past year 
he was the owner of the White Deer flouring mills, and engaged 
in the manufacture of flour and other grain products until one 
of the Lewisburg water companies purchased the plant in order 
to control the stream. 

For many years he engaged in business as a stock broker 
at the corner of Third and Pine streets. 

He was a stockholder in the Susquehanna Trust and Safe 
Deposit Company and. during its existence, of the Merchants 
National Bank, and also held stock in various other institutions 
of the city. He was one of the organizers of the Williamsport 
Engineering and Supply Company, and also of the first Board 
of Trade. 

In politics he was a Re]xiblican. though not a strong- 
partisan. 

While in Pittsburg he served as a member of the city coun- 
cil one term. He was for several years a member of the Wil- 
liamsport school board and served as its president in 1887 and 
1888. During his presidency the High School building, corner 
of Third and Walnut, was erected. 



242 HISTORY OF THE 

Captain Bly was a prominent member of Reno Post, No. 
64, G. A. R., and was its commander in 1891. He was also a 
member of the Loyal Legion and of a Masonic Blue lodge at 
Pittsburg. 

He and his family were attendants at Trinity Episcopal 
church. He leaves a wife and a daughter, Mrs. H. F. Clapp. 

Very largely attended was the funeral of Captain David 
Bly, which occurred from the late residence, 720 West Fourth 
street, Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock. The services were in 
charge of the Rev. James W. Diggles, curate of Christ church 
parish. Music was furnished by a quartet composed of Mrs. S. 
V. Border, Miss Delia Meyers, Charles Krape and S. V. Border. 
The pall bearers were Messrs. J. R. T. Ryan, James N. Kline, 
H. A. Merriman, Capt. Evan Russell, Capt. Frank Burrows and 
Capt. William Sweeley. Reno Post, G. A. R., of which the de- 
ceased was an honored member, attended in a body in uniform, 
and had charge of the service at the grave. Interment was 
made in Wildwood. In a handsome coffin the body of the civil 
war veteran reposed under the folds of the flag he fought for, 
and his funeral was most impressive. 



CAPT. CHAS. B. DAVIS. 

Capt. Charles B. Davis, commanding Company G, was 
born August 17, 1829, at Easton, Pa. He learned the trade of 
machinist. He came to Williamsport about 1854, and was 
foreman of the Williamsport & Elmira railroad shop until the 
breaking out of the war. He was a member of the famous 
underground railway, in which he was much interested and did 
good and faithful service, being the means of getting many a 
poor colored man through the lines to Canada, via the old turn- 
pike over the mountain to Williamsport and Elmira, to Canada. 
He was unanimously elected captain, many of the members of 
his company being with him in the railroad shops and on the 
road. His boys, as he called us, loved him and were always 
ready to do anything they could for him, and ne likewise loved 
his boys, and many a time provided for their wants and com- 
forts. After the muster out of the regiment he again took up 
his position in the railroad shops until their removal to Elmira, 
and went with them there and continued in his old position. 
However, owing to disease contracted in the army developing 
into rheumatism and other complications, he was finally com- 
pelled to resign his position and retire from active service into 
private life. Here he rested from his labor, enjoying the 



iSTst PENNA. VOLUNIEERS. 24:^ 

comforts of his home and family. His liealth gradually failing, 
he was compelled to take his hed, where he laid for a long time, 
death tinally coming to his relief on the 14th day of September, 
1899. He was laid to rest at Elmira. N. Y. 



CAJ'T. JOSEPH G. HUTCHISON. 

Hon. Joseph G. Hutchison was born September 11, 1840, 
in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish de- 
scent, his father's ancesters being Scotch. His mother's 
maiden name was Caldwell, of a large and highly esteemed 
family, and her parents came from the North of Ireland in 1798. 
His grandmother Hutchison, whose maiden name was Guilford, 
was of English descent. His grandfather, Joseph Hutchison, 
was prominent in the public affairs of Pennsylvania, and at an 
early day represented a district, constituting about one-twelfth 
of the state, in the general assembly. His father, Wilson Hutchi- 
son, was one of Northumberland county's best known and re- 
spected citizens. 

The subject of this sketch, Joseph G. Hutchison, was edu- 
cated at the Williamsport Dickinson Seminary, at Williamsport, 
Pennsylvania, from which he was graduated in June, 1862, after 
completing a four years' course. This institution sustains and 
conducts classical and scientific collegiate courses. He entered 
the service August 10, 1862. as First Lieutenant in Company B, 
131st Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, in the Army 
of the Potomac, and participated in the historic battles of 
P'redericksburg, Antietam and Chancellorsville. He also took 
l)art in the Gettysburg campaign as Captain -of Company I. 28th 
Regiment, Pemisylvania Volunteer Infantry, which regiment 
was mustered into service under the special call of President 
Lincoln, to repel the Confederate invasion. Captain Hutchison 
performed his duties well as a loyal and valiant officer, at a time 
when the country was in its greatest peril. Special mention 
was given him by the commander of his brigade for bravery in 
the charge on Marye's Hill at the battle of Fredericksburg. 

Captain Hutchison had l)een pursuing his study of the law, 
and graduated at the Cleveland (Ohio) Law School in the 
spring of 1865. In December, 1865, he came to Ottumwa and 
formed a law partnership with Hon. E. H. Stiles, one of the 
most distinguished members of the Iowa bar. He practiced 
law until 1872, when he assisted in organizing the Johnston 
Ruffler Company, and the Ottumwa Iron Works, a very import- 



244 HISTORY OF THE 

ant industry that gave employment to a large number of men 
and brought the name of Ottumwa to the front as a manufac- 
turing city. 

The subject of this sketch resumed the practice of law in 
August. 1875, ^*^<i continued it actively and successfully until 
1879. In the latter year Captain Hutchison was elected to the 
lower house of the state legislature, where he served one term. 
In 1881 he received the nomination for the Iowa senate, from 
the Republican party, by acclamation, of which party he has al- 
ways been a consistent member^ and was elected ; he was re- 
elected in 1884, thus rendering ten years' service in the halls of 
the legislature. During his senatorial terms, he was a member 
of the ways and means and judiciary committees, and, it is said, 
he had more to do in shaping the policy that paid off the state 
debt, than any other man in the legislature. He was the author 
of the registration system for elections, which is now giving the 
greatest satisfaction to men of all parties, although it was op- 
posed at the beginning by those who did not understand its 
beneficient effect in securing an honest ballot. Mr. Hutchison 
also devoted a great share of his attention to railroad legislation, 
and organized the committee which took the matter in charge, 
and at last brought about reforms that were advantageous to 
the people. He received the nomination for governor from the 
Republican party, in 1889, at a time when reaction against pro- 
hibition was strongest. Many Republicans voted for Governor 
Boies on account of prohibition, and because Captain Hutchison 
stood manfully upon the platform of his party. Two years af- 
terwards. Hiram Wheeler was nominated by the Republicans 
for governor, as against Governor Boies, when the same issue 
was presented, and Mr. Wheeler was defeated by io,c«do ma- 
jority — 4,000 more than the majority Mr. Boies obtained over 
Mr. Hutchison. It thus became plain that Captain Hutchison 
was not defeated on personal grounds, but because people sud- 
denly turned against the principles of prohibition, and held the 
Republican party responsible. Others for other positions on 
the Republican state ticket suffered defeat each time that 
Governor Boies was elected, but the chief effort was made 
against the head of the ticket. 

Joseph G. Hutchison had been twice married. His first 
wife was Sarah L. Taylor, to whom he was married November 
4, 1868; she died on November 2, 1896. She was a woman of 
strong character and unusual mental gifts and scholarly attain- 
ments, and through her influence and executive ability there re- 
main many good works to attest her worth as a true woman of 
exalted character. Mr. Hutchison was married to Mabel 



i2ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 245 

Vernon Dixon, a daughter of Hon. J. W. Dixon, June 23, 1898. 
Mrs. Hutchison served as president of the Iowa Federation of 
Women's Clubs from May, 1899, to May, 1901, a position which 
she filled with rare ability and to the entire satisfaction of the 
Federation. She has done much unselfish and noble work for 
women's club interests in Iowa. 

Captain Hutchison has had a successful business career. 
He was one of the promoters of the Ottumwa National Bank, 
served seven years as its president, and then resigned to accept 
the nomination for governor. He left the bank in good condi- 
tion,, which has been maintained by his successors. In May, 
1 89 1, he entered upon a wholesale grocery business, m which he 
has prospered. His has been a busy life, which promises to be 
prolonged to an advanced age with faculties unimpaired. 

We have thus given an outline, only, of the principal events 
connected closely with the subject of this sketch, and the share 
he has taken in controlling those events. It will be seen that he 
is a man of action, and has taken his full share of the burdens 
of citizenship, and well won the honors due to those who are 
faithful in their convictions, and who devotedly love their coun- 
try and its institutions. His first sacrifices were rriade when he 
was but a mere youth, in offering his services as a soldier on the 
battlefield. When he again became a citizen, he so conducted 
himself that his integrity and ability won recognition, and he 
was instrumental, to a large degree, in shaping the destiny of 
the young and growing state of his adoption. During all the 
years he has lived in Iowa, he has led the life of an upright 
Christian gentleman, and attracted warm friends because of his 
integrity and his unswerving adherence to a high standard of 
honor. 



CAPT. JOSEPH R. ORWIG. 

Joseph Ray Orwig was born June 30, 1838, at Mifflinburg, 
Union County, Pa. He is a member of the Orwig family who 
have lived for nearly two hundred years in the southern part of 
Schuylkill county, and gave their name to the borough of Or- 
wigsburg. the old county town of the county. Captain Orwig's 
father removed to Union county about the year 1820, and began 
farming, which his son, the subject of this sketch, pursued also. 
Young Orwig worked on his father's farm and attended com- 
mon school in the winter till he was sixteen, when he accepted 
a place as salesman in a store at Mifilinburg, where he remained 
several years, except during winters when he attended Mifflin- 



246 HISTORY OF THE 

burg Academy three sessions, and taught school two winters. 
He went to Philadelphia and clerked for his brother, R. G. Or- 
wig, who was editor and publisher of the Stale Jonnial, a week- 
ly Republican newspaper. He was here about three years, and 
then returi\ed to Union county, and entered upon the study of 
the law with his brother, S. H. Orwig, till the beginning of the 
war, when he enlisted as a member of the first company that left 
Union county under the first call of the President. At the ex- 
piration of his time he joined the 131st Regiment as 
lieutenant of Company A. After the battle of Fred- 
ericksburg he was promoted to captain. When his time was 
out he returned to Mifflinburg and devoted his energies to the 
editing and publishing of the MiMinburg Telegraph, a paper 
which he had started just previous to his rejoining the army. 
In this he was engaged ten years, working faithfully to develop 
local improvements ; was especially active in promoting the build- 
ing of the Lewisburg, Centre and Spruce Creek railroad, and in 
the building up and increasing the usefulness of the public 
schools of the county. He was a member of the school board and 
served several years as president of the same. He also held the lo- 
cal offices of notary public and United States assistant assessor. 
In 1875 he was appointed by Governor Hartranft, who had been 
the colonel of his old three months' regiment, the Fourth Penn- 
sylvania, to the office of assistant librarian. 

Captain Orwig was an excellent and industrious keeper of 
the books of the State. His manners were very courteous, 
agreeable and obliging to all, no matter who. He served under 
the governorships of Hartranft, Hoyt and Beaver and left the 
library in Governor Pattison's second term. He served in the 
clerical department of the Pennsylvania Commission for the 
Chicago World's Fair, and was six months in Chicago, after 
which he removed from Harrisburg to Des Moines, Iowa, in 
1893. He was appointed assistant state librarian of Iowa by 
Governor Drake, and assisted in the establishment of the travel- 
ing library, and served two years, when he engaged in railroad 
construction at Hahatanka, Mo., when he was appointed post- 
master, and is secretary of the North and South Central Rail- 
way company. He has a family of four daughters and two 
sons, who reside at Des Moines. The Captain and Mrs. Orwig 
are in good health and have the esteem and affection of a large 
circle of friends. 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 247 

LIEUT. ALBERT D. LUNDY. 

Lieut. Albert D. Lundy was born in Danville, Pa., July 24, 
1836, where he resided until 1854, when he came to Williams- 
port to engage with the Catawissa, Williamsport & Erie Rail- 
road, under Hon. McKiport, general- superintendent. He re- 
sided in Boone and Webster counties, Iowa, from 1858 to 1861. 
In i860 he married the eldest daughter of Capt. J. J. Ayres. 
Mrs. Lundy visited the regiment at Antietam in 1862 and wit- 
nessed the review of the army by President Lincoln. Lieuten- 
ant Lundy was detailed on staff duty at brigade headquarters 
soon after the battle of Fredericksburg. He rendered efficient 
service at the battle of Chancellorsville, which was noted in the 
official report of Col. P. H. Allabach, brigade commander. 

He now resides in Williamsport, Pa., engaged as state 
agent of the Sun Insurance Office, and also as a partner in the 
agency of A. D. Lundy & Co. His family consists of a wife 
and five children, two residing in Chicago, two in Williamsport, 
and one in Englewood, N. J. 



CAPT. THOMAS R. JONES. 

Thomas R. Jones, Captain of Company C, was born in 
Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. Graduated from 
Bucknell university, at Lewisburg, in 1862. After the muster- 
out of the regiment he commenced to study law at Lewisburg. 
Later he became Captain of Company A, Twenty-eighth Penn- 
sylvania Volunteer Militia. He was an accountant in the 
United States Treasury from 1865 to 1872. Graduated from 
the law department of Columbian university in 1868. and was 
admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of the District of 
Columbia. Was cashier of the National Savings Bank, W^ash- 
ington, D. C, from 1872 to 1884. From 1884 to 1892 he was 
located in New York city as manager of the New York Branch 
of the American Baptist Publication Society. From 1892 to 
1897 was third vice president and executive officer of the Na- 
tional Safe Deposit, Savings and Trust Company, Washington, 
D. C. He has been president of the same since June, 1897. 
He is a member of the Washington Stock Exchange and is an 
officer in several religious and benevolent organizations in 
Washington city. 



ROSTER 



COMMISSIONED AND NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS, 
MUSICIANS AND PRIVATES 



131st Penna. Volunteers. 



FIELD AND STAFF. 



*Peter H. Allabach, colonel; mustered out with regiment. 

William B. Shaut, lieut. -colonel; promoted from captain Company 
I, Aug. 19, 1862; mustered out with regiment. 

Robert W. Patton, major; mustered out with regiment. 

Samuel W. Pollock, adjutant; mustered out with regiment. 

C. J. A. Chapman, quartermaster; inustered out with regiment. 

John F. Huber, surgeon; promoted from assistant surgeon 49th 
Regiment, P. V., Oct. 22, 1862 — mustered out with regiment. 

L. R. Kirk, ass't surgeon; mustered out with regiment. 

David J. Evans, ass't surgeon; mustered out with regiment. 

Charles W. Sanders, chaplain; mustered out with regiment. 

Roswell S. Parker, sergeant-major; promoted from corporal Com- 
pany D, Aug. 26, 1862; died at Washington, D. C, Jan. 10, 1863, 
of wounds received at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Ambrose M. Aults, sergeant-major; promoted from private Com- 
pany D, Jan 10, 1863; mustered out with regiment. 

William F. Thompson, quartermaster sergeant; promoted from cor- 
poral Company I, Aug. 23, 1S62; mustered out with regiment. 

Henry M. Edwards, commissary sergeant; promoted froin corporal 
Company I, Oct. 25, 1862; mustered out with regiment. 

George W. Moyer, commissary sergeant; promoted from private 
Company A, Aug. 23, 1862; discharged by special order Oct. 25, 
1862. 

Lorenzo D. Robins, hospital steward; promoted from sergeant Com- 
pany C, Aug. 23, 1862; mustered out with regiment. 



COMPANY A. 

Joseph R. Orwig, captain; mustered out with company. 

Joseph W. Kepler, first lieutenant; mustered out with company. 

William Fichthorn, second lieutenant; mustered out with company. 

Albert E. Barnes, first sergeant; mustered out with company. 

Foster Halfpenny, sergeant; mustered out with company. 

Isaac Treat, sergeant; mustered out with company. 

Josiah Schriner, sergeant; mustered out with company; re-enlisted. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 249 

Henry Rothermel, sergeant; mustered out with company. 

George W. Feister, first corporal; mustered out with company. 

Charles Worman, corporal; mustered out with company. 

Jacob Hower, corporal; mustered out with company; re-enlisted 
July 14, 1864; first sergeant Company F, 195th Regt., P. V., dis- 
charged Sept. 4, 1864, and re-enlisted Sept. 4, 1S64, fifth sergeant 
Company A, 195th Regt., P. V., discharged June 21, 1865. 

Harrison Haffer, corporal; mustered out with company; re-enlisted 
Company I, 202d P. V., March, 1865, discharged Sept., 1865. 

Samuel S. Smith, corporal; mustered out with company. 

William H. Weirick, corporal; mustered out with company. 

Joel C. Kline, corporal; mustered out with company; re-enlisted in 
company. 

Henry Phillips, corporal; mustered out with company. 

Nathanial W. Strahan, corporal; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 
13, 1862. 

James B. Forest, musician; mustered out with company; re-enlisted 
Co. C, 28th Regt., and discharged July 28, 1863; re-enlisted Jan. 
9, 1864 in Co. C, 187th Regt., discharged Aug. 3, 1865. 

Thomas L. Schuck, musician; mustered out with company. 

Aikey, William H., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Burkholder, William, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862. 

Burkholder, Lewis, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862. 

Burkenstock, Hermon, private; mustered out with company. 

Brant, Henry, private; mustered out with company; re-enlisted Co. 
I, 192d Regt. P. v., July, 1865, discharged Aug., 1865. 

Bower, Francis, private; mustered out with company. 

Baldwin, Absalom, private; mustered out with company. 

Brocious, Isaac A., private; mustered out with company. 

Bordner , William, private; mustered out with company. 

CauUeflower, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Collins, Peter, private; mustered out with company. 

Cornelius, Washington, private; mustered out with company. 

Charles, Sterger, private; mustered out with company. 

Diehl, Henry C, private; mustered out with company. 

Dennis, Phares, private; mustered out with company. 

Devine, Peter, private; mustered out with company. 

Dollard, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Dresher, William, private; mustered out with company; re-enlisted 
Co. E, 51st Regt, and killed in battle of Wilderness. 

Foltz Martin, private; mustered out with company. 

Foster, Andrew, private; mustered out with company. 

Fiester, John Uhl, private; mustered out with company. 

Grove, Samuel G., private; mustered out with company. 

Glover, John W., private; mustered out with company. 

Huff, George, private; mustered out with company. 

Huff, John, private; mustered out with company. 

Harris John, private; mustered out with company. 

Heinselman, David, private; mustered out with company. 

Hayes, James C,. private; mustered out with company. 

Hulsizer, Jesse, private; died at Finley Hospital, Nov. 10, 1862. 

Henry, William G., private; deserted. 

Hartley, Ellas, private; mustered out with company. 

Kelchner, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Kerr, Christian H., private; mustered out with company. 

Katherman, Joseph, private; mustered out with company. 

Katherman, Isaiah, private; mustered out with company. 

Kline, Charles, private; mustered out with company. 

Kline, George, private; mustered out with company. 



250 HISTORY OF THE 

Kline, Henry C, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Deib, Emanuel, private; mustered out with company. 

Laird, Samuel H., private; mustered out with company. 

Lenhart, David, private; mustered out with company. 

Ludwig, George W., private, deserted. 

Lashells George, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Miller, Harry, private; mustered out with company. 

Markle, John private; mustered out with company. 

Myers, Daniel B., private; mustered out with company; re-enlisted 

July 28, 1863, Co. C, P. V., discharged July 28, 1863; re-enlisted 

Feb. 28, 1864, Co. E, 51st Regt., discharged July 27, 1865. 
McPherson, Archibald, private; mustered out with company. 
Maxwell, Archibald, private; mustered out with company . 
Mayer, George W., private; mustered out with company. 
Newman, Lewis, private; mustered out with company; re-enlisted 

Co. I, 202d Regt., discharged Sept., 1865. 
Reagsman, William, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862. 
Reule, Valentine, private; mustered out with company. 
Richard, Christian, private; mustered out with company. 
Reahrer, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Reed, John private; mustered out with company. 
Reed, George T., private; mustered out with company. 
Rote, Joel, private; mustered out with company. 
Rorabach, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Shaffer, Milton, private; mustered out with company. 
Solomon, Henry C, private; mustered out with company. 
Summers, Jeremiah, private; mustered out with company. 
Summers, Oliver, private; mustered out with company. 
Snyder, William A., private; mustered out with company. 
Snyder, William W., private; mustered out with company. 
Snyder, Emanuel, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Swartz, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Showalter, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
Stees, Henry G., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Sanders, George, private; deserted. 
Smith, Sylvester, private; deserted. 

Taylor, William A., private; mustered out with company. 
Weise, Charles W., private; mustered out with company. 
Wertz, William, private; mustered out with company. 
Winegarden, John A., private; mustered out with company. 
Wilson, Frank, private; mustered out with company. 
Zechman, Malancthon, C, private; mustered out with company. 



COMPANY B. 

*David Bly, captain; mustered out with company. 

Jos. G. Hutchison, first lieutenant; mustered out with company. 
* Joseph M. Irwin, second lieutenant; mustered out with company. 

Tilghman F. Stadtler, sergt.; mustered out with company. 
*Harmon A. Sevison, sergt.; mustered out with company. 
*John P. Casselberry, sergt.; mustered out with company. 

Israel L. Hill, sergt.: mustered out with company. 
*Russell Levan, sergt.; promoted from corporal Jan. 10, 1863; mus- 
tered out with company. 
*George W. Dixon, sergt.; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 
10, 1863. 



♦Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 261 

William R. Bly, corporal; promoted to corporal Jan. 10, 1863; mus- 
tered out with company. 
♦Edward L. Matchin, corporal; mustered out with company. 

Elias I3oush, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*Daniel G. Westley, corporal; mustered out with company. 
♦John Heckle, corporal; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

absent at muster-out. 
♦Joseph Bly, corporal; mustered out with company. 
♦Joseph Lodge, corporal; promoted corporal, Jan. 10, 1863; mustered 

out with company. 
♦Daniel J. Reader, corporal; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862; absent at muster-out. 

James L. Durham, corporal; died Dec. 31, of wounds received at 
Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
♦George E. Hill, musician; mustered out with company. 
♦Anderson, George, private; absent, sick at muster-out. 

Albright, Joseph, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Armstrong, W. W., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 

Dec. 24, 1862. 
♦Bechtel, George W., private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 

Bennage, Enos, private; mustered out with company. 

Boush, James Pollock, private; mustered out with company. 

Bly, James C, private; mustered out with company. 

('ooner, John R., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Conner, Thomas, private; mustered out with company. 

Claudfelter, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 

Conley, John, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Dougherty, James, private; mustered out with company. 

Dentler, H. Clay, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Dennius, D. Webster, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862; absent at muster-out. 

Dentler, John M., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Dec. 
10, 1862. 

Eckerd, William D., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 
27, 1863. 
♦Frymire, David, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Fry, Elias, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Guffey, Richard, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
absent at muster-out. 

Haag, George W., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862; absent at muster-out. 

Hartman, Jonathan, private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 

Hayes, U. Silsby, private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 

Hogue, Daniel C., private; mustered out with company. 

Harman, Benjamin F., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Hill, Robert, private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 

Hester, William, private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 

Hutchison, Robert C, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Hartranft, Jeff. C, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Hilliard, Joseph L., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Irwin, Ellis L., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Jarrett, Robert F., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Keener, William, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Leinbach, Daniel S., private; mustered out with company. 

Leinbach, William S., private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 
♦Lilly, George, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Lamm, Ambrose S., private; mustered out with company. 

Long, Joseph K., private; mustered out with company. 

Lynn, Ellas, private: mustered out with company. 

Lindauer, John F., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Oct. 
27, 1862. 



♦Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



^62 HISTORY OF THE 

*Miller, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*Meadowcroft, John, private; mustered out with company. 

Morrison, J. Hunter, private; mustered out with company. 

Miles, J. Hunter, private; mustered out with company. 

Moore, John F., private; died at Salisbury, N. C, Jan. 11, 1865. 

Messenger Isaac N., private; mustered out with company. 

Moore, Joseph, private, died Feb. 18, 1863. 

McKee, James, private; mustered out with company. 

McWilliams, David C, private; deserted; re-enlisted in U. S. navy 
on gunboat Nyak, North Atlantic blockading squadron. 

Nye, James Harvey, private; mustered out with company. 

Patton, James A., private, mustered out with company. 
*Piper, George T., private, mustered out with company. 
*Powers, Edward, private; mustered out with company. 

Reminsnyder, Junius, private; mustered out with company. 

Roup, Daniel P., private; mustered out with company. 

Rodarmel, James, private; mustered out with company. 

Rimert, David P., private; mustered out with company. 
*Shuler, John H., private; mustered out with company. 

Sanders, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Stenninger, Emanuel H., private; mustered out with company. 

Shellinberger, Willoby, private; mustered out with company. 
*Slaght, Mark, private; mvistered out with company. 

Sees, Robert, private; mustered out with company. 
*Stitzel, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*Starr, Chas. E., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

absent in hospital at muster-out. 
*Stadtler, Chas. E., private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, Peter M., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Dec. 
24, 1862. 
*Troup, Benjamin, private; mustered out with company. 

Truckenmiller, Valentine S., private; mustered out with company. 
*Troxel, James P., private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 

Truckenmiller, Jacob E., private: died Dec. 15, 1862, of wounds re- 
ceived at Fredericksburg. 

Ulrich, John, private; mustered out with company. 
*Wenrich, Wellington, private; mustered out with company. 

Worrell, Thomas A., private; mustered out with company. 

Watson, William W., private; mustered out with company. 
*Wykoff, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 

Wendell, Thomas P., private; mustered out with company. 

Wertz, George, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; absent, in hos- 
pital, at muster-out. 

Waldron, Philip H., private; mustered out with company. 

Welliver, Jeremiah, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; discharged 
on surgeon's certificate, April 10, 1863. 

Yagle, Zachariah, private; mustered out with company. 

Young, Theodore F., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Feb. 24, 1863. 



COMPANY C. 

Thomas R. Jones, captain; mustered out with company. 
Joseph L. Reader, first lieutenant; resigned Nov. 29, 1862. 
*Andrew N. Brice. first lieutenant; promoted from second lieuten- 
ant, Jan. 1, 1863. 
David M. Nesbit, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
*Owen M. Fowler, sergeant; promoted from sergeant to second lieu- 
tenant, March 1, 1863. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



/3isi PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 263 

Lott B. "Weitzel, sergeant; mustered out with company. 

George W. Arnold, sergeant, promoted from first corporal, Sept. 14, 
1862. 

Ephraim Foulk, sergeant; promoted from corporal, Aug. 26, 1862. 

William H. Beck, sergeant; on detached service at commissary 
headquarters. 

Jesse Hilbourn, corporal; promoted to corporal, March 1, 1863. 

Samuel Bower, corporal; mustered out with company. 

Irvin M. Rockefeller, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*John Bucher, corporal; discharged on surgeon's certificate, March 
12, 1863. 

Silas R. Snyder, corporal; mustered out with company. 

Samuel Swenk, corporal; mustered out with company. 

Solomon Klase, corporal; promoted to corporal, Sept. 14, 1862. 
*Charles P. Seasholtz, corporal; promoted to corporal, Sept. 14, 1862. 

Auchmuty, Jesse M., private; mustered out with company. 
*Bastress, Milton, private; mustered out with company. 

Beck, Edward L., private; mustered out with company. 
*Barnhart, Benjamin F., private; mustered out with company. 
*Bird, Sylvanus A., private; mustered out with company. 
*Bittenbender, Cyrus A., private: mustered out with company. 

Blair, John, private; mustered out with company; re-enlisted and 
killed in Red River Expedition. 
*Boughner, .John R., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Dec. 26, 1862. 

Campbell Azeria, private; promoted to corporal, March 13, 1863. 

Cooper, John L., private; mustered out with company. 

Culp, Charles H., private; mustered out with company. 
*Conrad, Joseph, private; mustered out with company. 

Dawson, John, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 16, 
1863. 

Dill, Hiram H., private; mustered out with company. 

Evert, William A., private; on detached service. 

Evert, John, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Ernest, John, private; mustered out with company; re-enlisted in 
Seventh Cavalry, was wounded, and died from wounds. 
■^Eckman, John E., private; promoted to corporal, March 1, 1863; re- 
enlisted and returned home. 
*Ele5% Wesley, private; mustered out with company. 

Erdman, John K., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate. Feb. 
15, 1863. 

Ervin, George D., private; mustered out with company. 

Fisher, Peter, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Farley, George, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate; re-en- 
listed and died in service. 

Farrow, Kimber C, musician; mustered out with company. 

Forrister, James E., musician; mustered out with company. 
*Fox, John, private; mustered out with company. 

Good William, private; mustered out with company. 

Haas, Adam S., private; mustered out with company. 
*Haas, John K., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 12, 

1863. 
*Hammer, Frederick, private; mustered out with company. 

Harris, James, private; promoted to corporal. 

Hepner, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 
"^Hoofman, John, private; mustered out with company. 

Hoover, Francis, private; mustered out with company; re-enlisted. 

Hoover, Eli, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Hoey, Samuel J., private; mustered out with company. 

Hunt, James, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Johnson, Thomas, private; mustered out with company. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



254 HISTORY OF THE 

Koppenhafer, Joel, private; mustered out with company. 

Koppenhafer, Tobias, private; mustered out with company. 
•Koppenhafer, Jeremiah, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Sept. 29, 1862. 

Kashner, Daniel, private; mustered out with company. 
*Keiser, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 

Kincaid, James, private; mustered out with company. 

Kulp, Abraham, private; mustered out with company. 
*Kulp, Peter, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
*Kulp, Moses, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Lavan, George, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Lyon, James W., private; mustered out with company. 

Mowry, Jacob, private; accidentally shot himself; died near Sharps- 
burg; buried in National Cemetery, Antietam. 

Martz, George, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Dec. 26, 
1862. 
*Maguire, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*Mettler, Charles H., private; mustered out with company. 

Martz, Vandine, private; mustered out with company. 

Moore, Harry, private; mustered out with company. 

Myers, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 

Oberdorf, Oliver, private; died in camp hospital, near Sharpsburg, 
Md., Oct. 21, 1862. 

Osman, Alonzo, private; mustered out with company. 

Pifer, Daniel S., private; mustered out with company. 

Price, Henry K., private; mustered out with company. 

Reed, Servitus O, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; discharged 

on surgeon's certificate, March 21, 1863. 
■^Reed, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 

Reed, Jesse J., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Robins, Lorenzo D., private; promoted to hospital steward, Aug. 26, 
1862. 

Ruch, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
*Savidge, William, pi'ivate: mustered out with company. 

Sarvis, Isaac, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; died from 
wound at Washington, D. C, Jan. 16, 1863. 

Shipman, John L., private; mustered out with Company. 

Shipman, Saul, private; mustered out with company. 

Shipp, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, Francis M., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 
6, 1863. 
•Smith, John, private; mustered out with company. 

Strauser, Josiah, private; mustered out with company. 

Stambach, Reman, private; mustered out with company. 

Spratt, Charles, private; killed at Fredericksburg. 

Sterner, Orlandis, private; killed at Fredericksburg. 
'*Weimer, George Y., private; mustered out with company. 

Wentz, Peter, private; mustered out with company. 
*Wlllet, David J., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, April 
13, 1863. 

Yeager, William, private; wounded at Fredericksburg. 
■^Yeager, Conrad, private; mustered out with company. 

Yeager, Soloman, private; mustered out with company. 

Yocum, Adamja, private; mustered out with company. 



♦Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 255 



COMPANY D. 

David A. McManigal, captain; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 
David B. Wilson, first lieutenant; commissioned captain May 8, 1862; 

not mustered, mustered out with company. 
D. D. Muthersbaugh, second lieutenant; wounded at Fredericksburg, 

Dec. 13, 1862; m.ustered out with company. 
James W. Couch, first sergeant; promoted from sergeant Nov. 5, 

1862; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered out with company. 
J. W. Hackenburg, sergeant; died at Frederick, Md., Nov. 5, 1862. 
William A. Troxell, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
Roland Thompson, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
Homer Benedict, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
Henry McLaughlin, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
George W. Smithers, corporal; mustered out with company. 
David Sterrett, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Samuel Haffley, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Samuel M. Brown, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Joseph T. Rothrock, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Adam R. Weidman, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Levi A. Mentzer, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Roswell S. Parker, corporal; promoted sergeant-major, Aug. 23, 

1862. 
Harrison J. Miller, corporal: died at Frederick, Md., Nov. 18, 1862. 
Samuel E. Long, musician: mustered out with company. 
Franklin W^. Smith, musician; mustered out with company. 
Arnold, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
Arnold, John T. private; mustered out with company. 
Alexander, Wm. F., private: mustered out with company. 
Alexander, Eliphs, private: mustered out with company. 
Alexander, Wm. B., private; mustered out with company. 
Anderson, Wm. R., private: mustered out with company. 
Aults, Ambrose M., private; promoted sergt. major, Jan. 10, 1863. 
Bell, Wm. R., private, mustered out with company. 
Barger, Wm. J., private: mustered out with company. 
Benny, Wm., private; mustered out with company. 
Bratton, Harvey, A., private; mustered out with company. 
Beaver, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Bower, James H., private; died March 29, 1863. 
Conley, Josiah H., private; mustered out with company. 
Conley, Mai'tin, private; mustered out with company. 
Castner, James S., private; mustered out with company. 
Crissman, John A., private; mustered out with company. 
Davis, George, private: mustered out with company. 
Dill, Daniel, private: died Jan. 17, 1863. 

Dippery, George K., private: killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862 
Files, Abram, private: mustered out with company. 
Ford, Ebenezer R., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Greer, Samuel M., private; mustered out with company. 
Galbraith, John M., private: mustered out with company. 
Guthrie, James, private: mustered out with company. 
Guiher, Miles P., private; died Jan. 19, 1863. 
Hoffman, Henry C, private; mustered out with company. 
Hesser, John R., private; mustered out with company. 
Hook, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Hook, Levi, private; mustered out with company. 
Hardy, Daniel, private; mustered out with company. 
Hummel, John B., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb 

7, 1863. 



266 HISTORY OF THE 

Hacket, James I. private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, April 
6, 1863. 

Heister, William C, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Kyle, Charles E., private; mustered out with company. 

Kemp, David S., private; mustered out u^ith company. 

Koffman, Jacob A., private; mustered out with company. 

Kishler, Abram, private; died April 1, 1863. 

Long, John S., private; mustered out with company. 

Longwell, Samuel G., private; mustered out with company. 

Latchford, David E., private; mustered out with company. 

Landis, Joseph P., private; mustered out with company. 

Lenthurst, Isaac M., private; mustered out with company. 

Montgomery, R. H., private; mustered out with company. 

Mitchell, Allen P., private; mustered out with company. 

Mitchell, William A., private; mustered out with company. 

Mitchell, George D., private; mustered out with company. 

Mitchell, Henry T., private; mustered out with company. 

Moran, William R., private; mustered out with company. 

Magill, Albert L., private; mustered out with company. 

Marks, Charles, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, March 
25, 1863. 

Mertz, Edward P., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

McKlips, Mahlon, private; mustered out with company. 

Orr, George R., private; mustered out with company. 

Ort, John W., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Parker, Alvin B., private; mustered out with company. 

Price, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 

Price, Allison, private; mustered out with company. 

Peters, Augustus H., private; absent, in hospital, at muster-out. 

Pratt, George H., private; mustered out with company. 

Ross, James B., private; mustered out with company. 

Rigle, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Rohrer, Jacob A., private: mustered out with company. 

Roamig, Noah A., private; mustered out with company. 

Renninger, H. H., private; mustered out with company. 

Riden, John W., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Oct. 27, 
1862. 

Robenald, David, private; died Feb. 23, 1863. 

Smith, Hiram, private; mustered out with company. 

Stineberger, David, private; wounded; mustered out with company. 

Smith, James W., private: mustered ovit with company. 

Stine, John M,. private; mustered out with company. 

Stroup, George W., private; mustered out with company. 

Stahl, George W., private; mustered out with company. 

Shank, David, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, date un- 
known. 

Smith, Joseph H., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Wagoner, Joseph H., private; wounded at Fredericksburg; mus- 
tered out with company. 

Walters, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Witherow, William P., private; mustered out with company. 

Wilson, George W., private, mustered out with company. 



COMPANY E. 

*Isaiah B. Davis, captain; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
* William A. Bruner, first lieutenant; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 

13, 1862. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 257 

•William H. Wolfe, first lieutenant; promoted from second lieuten- 
ant Jan. 1, 1863; mustered out with company. 
*Leander M. Morton, second lieutenant; promoted from first ser- 
geant Jan. 1, 1863; mustered out with company. 
*John Peterman, first sergeant; promoted from sergeant Jan. 1, 1863; 

rnustered out with company. 
*Elias Bart, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
*Henry J. Heinan, sergeant; promoted from corporal Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
*John H. Easton, sergeant; promoted from corporal, Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
♦Samuel Logan, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
Warren F. Brenizer, sergeant; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 

January, 1863. 
William A. Straub, corporal; promoted to corporal; mustered out 

with company. 
W. B. Chamberlain, corporal; mustered out with company. 
William H. Tagert, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Martin L. Ruthraff, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Ephraim Hester, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*William Angstadt, corporal; promoted to corporal Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
*Currin Cahill, corporal; promoted to corporal Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
Jos. R. Bright, corporal; mustered out with company. 
John liOgan, musician; mustered out with company. 
Charles F. Burns, musician; mustered out with company. 
*Aicher, Isadore A., private; mustered out with company. 
*Arbeiter, Julius, private; mustered out with company. 
*Augeny, Martin F., private; mustered out with company. 
*Bogert, James W., private; mustered out with company. 
Burnman, James, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Bartholomew, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Brooks, Thomas, private; mustered out with company. 
*Brous, Edward, private; mustered out with company. 
Blair, Isaiah B., private; mustered out with company. 
*Bogle, David P., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Oct. 

5, 1862. 
Byerly, Samuel, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, date 

unknown. 
Bruner, James H., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 

March 24, 1863. 
Chapin, Alfred B., private; mustered out with company. 
*Dotts, Andrew, private; mustered out with company. 
Eisele, Charles, private; mustered out with company. 
Eisele, Philip, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Everett, Thomas, private; mustered out with company. 
Everett, Daniel, private; died at Falmouth, Va., Dec. 28, 1862. 
Fagely, Benjamin, private: mustered out with company. 
♦Fisher, William A., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862: mustered out with company. 
♦Follmer, Philip H., private; mustered out with company. 
Fisher, A. J., private; mustered out with company. 
Ganby, Reese D., private: mustered out with company. 
♦Gaskins, Henry J., private: mustered out with company. 
♦Gibson, William, private; mustered out with company. 
Hause, David B., private; mustered out with company. 
Huntzicker, William, private: inustered out with company. 
♦Hulsizer, John M., private: mustered out with company. 
Huhn, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Halsey, James, private; died at Falmouth, Va., Jan. 5, 1863. 



♦Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



258 HISTORY OF THE 

♦Hause, Franklin, private; deserted Oct. 17, 1862. 

Irwin, Samuel J., private; mustered out with company. 

Irwin. Andrew F., private; mustered out with company. 

Kramm, Reuben. H.. private; mustered out with company. 

Kutz, David E., private; mustered out with company. 

Kint, Charles, private; mustered out with company. 
*Kieffer, David, private; mustered out with company. 

Krauser, Charles B., private; mustered out with company. 

Kramm, David J., private; missing in action at Fredericksburg, 
Dec. 13, 1862. 

Kepler, George W., private; died at Aquia Creek, Va., Dec. 24, 1862. 

T^eisenring, William H., private; mustered out with company. 

Leinbach, Jeremiah, private; mustered out with company. 

Longmore, R. M., private; mustered out with company. 

Leiser, Phineas, private; mustered out with company. 
*Machamer, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Murphy, James, private; mustered out with company. 

Miller, Robert, private; mustered out with company. 

Mathias, Charles, private; mustered out with company. 
*Meixel, Jacob, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 17, 
1863. 

Miller, Samuel M., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, date 
unknown. 
*Montgomery, James, private; deserted Aug. 16. 1862. 
*McCutcheoii, James, private; mustered out with company. 
*McGinnis, John, private; mustered out with company. 
*Newberry, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
*Newberry, Isaac, private; mustered out with company. 
*Overpeck, George W., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Oct. 10, 1862. 

Peeler, Wellington, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Nov. 28, 1862. 

Rissell, Charles M., private; mustered out with company. 
*Ritter, James M., private; mustered out with company. 

Rantz, John W., private; mustered out with company. 

Richalderfer, G. W., private; absent at muster-out. 

Runkle, William A., private; mustered out with company. 

Rissell, Daniel, private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 

Spotts, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*Strine, Matthias, private; mustered out with company. 
*Sheetz, George C, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862; mustered out with company. 

Schock, Levi B., private; wounded and missing in action at Fred- 
ericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
*Shadman, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
*Sweitzer, Thomas H., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 

Oct. 14, 1862. 
*Straub, Joseph, private; discharged on .surgeon's certificate, Nov. 
20, 1862. 

Smith, Jesse, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 14, 
1863. 
*Sommers, John A., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, date 
unknown. 

Straub, John B., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Smith, Jacob, private; deserted Aug. 15, 1862. 

Trego, William H., private; mustered out with company. 

Trego, John K., private; mustered out with company. 

Wertman, William, private; mustered out with company. 

■^Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star, 



i3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 259 

*Wortz, Joseph, private; captured at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 

1863; mustered out with company. 
*Walbon, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
* Watson, Curtis B., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 



COMPANY F. 

George W. Ryan, captain; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
*Lewis Miller, captain; promoted from first lieutenant, Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
*Frank W. Keller, first lieutenant; promoted from first sergeant, Jan. 

1, 1863; mustered out with company. 
''Jeremiah Snyder, second lieutenant; discharged Sept. 30, 1862. 
M. L. Wagenseller, second lieutenant; promoted from sergeant, Jan. 

1. 1863; mustered out with company. 
John S. Burkhart, first sergeant; promoted from corporal, Jan. 
1, 1.S63; mustered out with company. 
*Theophilus Swinefort, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
*W. H. Gemberling, sergeant; promoted from private, Jan 1, 1863; 
mustered out with company. 
Sephares S. Schoch. sergeant; promoted from private, Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
John H. Louis, sergeant; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
John Gardner, sergeant; died Dec. 15, 1862, of wounds received at 

Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
William N. Keister, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*Henry Barbin, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*S. M. Hendricks, corporal; mustered out with company. 
* Joseph S. Glover, corporal; mustered out with company. 
John J. Gundrum, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*Henry Steininger, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Calvin J. Schock, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Calvin J. Smith, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*Henrv W. Mattis, corporal; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 

19, 1863. 
*Jer. Mohney, musician; mustered out with company. 
Henry E. Richter, musician: mustered out with company. 
*Artley, Francis, private; mustered out with company. 
*Arbogast, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 
Blett, Phares, private; mustered out with company. 
Boyer, Edward K., private; mustered out with company. 
*Beaver, Absalom, private; mustered out with company. 
*Benfer, Henry W., private; mustered out with company. 
Bachman, Benjamin, private; mustered out with company. 
*Boreman, Elias, private; mustered out with company. 
*Buflington, Edward L., private; mustered out with company. 
Beisble, John W., private; mustered out with company. 
Boyer, William M., private; mustered out with company. 
Bishop, Ner., private; mustered out with company. 
Bollinger, John, private; died Jan. 22, 1863, of wounds received at 

Fredericksburg. 
Charles, Henry F., private; mustered out with company. 
*Curns, William M., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Oct. 

27, 1862. 
*Erb, Jacob J., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan 26, 
1863. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



260 HISTORY OF THE 

Fisher, Martin L., private; mustered out with company. 
*Gibbs, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Gardner, Matthew B., private; mustered out with company. 
*Gemberling, G. W., private; mustered out with company. 
*Greiner, John P., private; mustered out with company. 
*Gilbert, John, private; mustered out with company. 
*Getz, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
*Getz, David, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862, ab- 
sent at mustei'-out. 
*Greiner, George G., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Sept. 29, 1862. 
Hendricks, Jac, private; mustered out with company. 
Heater, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*Howell, John M., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
*Howell, Ephraim, private; mustered out with company. 
*Hackenberg, George E., private: mustered out with company. 
Houswerth, Wellington, private; mustered out with company. 
Houswerth, John J., private; mustered out with company. 
*Hagerty, John, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
mustered out with company. 
Harmon, Enos H., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 
Hoot, Samuel K., private; mustered out with company. 
Haupt, Galen, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 5, 

1863. 
Jarret, Perry, private; mustered out with company. 
Keller, William, private; mustered out with company. 
Kline, George A., private; captured at Chancellorsville, Va., May 3, 

1863; mustered out with company. 
Knepp, Paul H., private; mustered out with company. 
*Kempfer, David H., private; mustered out with company. 
Kline, Jackson W., private; died at Washington, Nov. 29, 1862: 

buried in Military Asylum Cemetery, D. C. 
Koch, Samuel, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862. 
*Long, Jeremiah, private; mustered out with company. 
Lose, Benjamin F., private; missing in action at Fredericksbui'g, 

Va., Deo. 13, 1862. 
Laudenslager, D. W., private: mustered out with company. 
Miller, Alfred F., private; mustered out with company. 
Mull, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
Martin, George, private; mustered out with company. 
Musser, George A., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 
Musser, James, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
Minium, Elias C, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Sept. 

29, 1862. 
Miller, Henry J., private; died Sept. 9, 1862, at Camp Ward, Va. 
McBay, John W., private; died Nov. 18, 1862, at Frederick, Md. 
Row, Martin W., private; missing in action at Fredericksburg, Dec. 

13, 1862. 
Row, William H., private; mustered out with company. 
Roush, Jairus, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
Renninger, H. H., private: mustered out with company. 
*Renninger, Henry, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862; mustered out with company. 
Rahmstine, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Renninger, Jonas, private; mustered out with company. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star, 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 261 

Renning-er, Abraham, private; died Jan. 2, 1863, of wounds received 

at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Snyder, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
*Schive, David G., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
*Snyder, Jacob P., private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
*Schroyer, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
Stahlneeker, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Spaid, Robert, private; mustered out with company. 
*Spahr, John, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1S62; 
absent at hospital at muster-out. 
Stroub, Jacob J., private; mustered out with company. 
Smith, James P., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 
21, 1863. 
*Teats, Edmund F., private; captured at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 
*Treaster, Elias, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Sept. 19, 

1862. 
*Winkleman, Jacob P., private; mustered out with company. 
* Wagner, Abram, private; mustered out with company. 
*Weipert, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
Wagner, John F., private; died at Brooks Station, Va., May 11, 
1863. 



COMPANY G. 

♦Charles B. Davis, captain; mustered out with company. 

* James M. Wood, first lieutenant; mustered out with company. 
George W. Jack, second lieutenant; mustered out with company. 

*Talma F. Averill, first sergeant; prisoner from May 5-May 22, 1863 
mustered out with company. 

* William Russell, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
Philip Hoffman, sergeant; mustered out with company. 

Alfred B. Bradley, sergeant; promoted from corporal, Dec. 10, 1862 

mustered out with company. 
David R. Keaster, sergeant; promoted from private, Dec. 10, 1862 

mustered out with company. 
George W. Rathmell, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Josiah Hayes, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Thomas Eagins, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Jo.^'ph F. Espenshade, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*William R. I^ogan, corporal; promoted to corporal, Dec. 10, 1862 
mustered out with company. 
Thomas O. Harris, corporal; promoted to corporal, Dec. 13, 1862 

mustered out with company. 
Frank Welshance, corporal; promoted to corporal, Jan 28, 1863 

mufiered out with company. 
Joseph T. Long, corporal; promoted to corporal, April 14, 1863 
nmslered out with company. 
*John F. Hoffman, musician; mustered out with company. 
"David R. Griffith, musician; mustered out with company. 
*Apkfcr, Robert, private; prisoner from May 5-May 22, 1863 

muster'^^d out with company. 
*Brewer, Franklin, private; mustered out with company. 
*Boyd, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Ball, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*Burkhart, r'rederick. private; mustered out with company. 



♦Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



262 HISTORY OF 7 HE 

Belford, David, private; mustered out with company. 

Betts, Ellis, private; mustered out with company. 

Bender, James, private; mustered out with company. 

Bussler, Abraham, private; died at Washington, D. C, Jan. 24, 
1863. 

Bush, Adolf, private; died at Washington, D. C, Dec. 29, 1862. 

Bennett, Ellis, private; died at Stoneman's Switch, Jan. 2, 1863. 

Bender, Jacob F., private; died at Washington, D. C, Feb. 20, 1863. 

Beegle, Jackson E., private; died at camp, Dec. 10, 1862. 

Bennett, Asher D., private; deserted Aug. 19, 1862. 
♦Campbell, Alfred, private; mustered out with company. 
*Covert, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 

Crawford, Joseph, wounded at Frederickszurg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
mustered out with company. 
*Crawford, Charles P., private; mustered out with company. 
*Cook, John F., private; mustered out with company. 

Donnell, Charles, private; prisoner from May 5-May 22, 1863; 
mustered out with company. 
*Duell, Albert, private; mustered out with company. 

Divers, Joseph, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Ferron, William H., private: killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

B"'oust, David R., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
mustered out with company. 

Fiser, John A., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
mustered out with company. 

Garman, George J., private; mustered out with company. 

Gottschall, Solomon, private; mustered out with company. 

Gottschall, Charles, private; mustered out with company. 
*Gross, Edward, private; mustered out with company. 
*Gray, John, private; prisoner from May 5-May 22, 1863; mustered 
out with company. 

Heiveley, John H., private; mustered out with company. 

Huett, Jefferson, private; mustered out with company. 

Henry, John M., private; died at Stoneman's Switch, Va., Jan. 5, 
1863. 
*Hoffman, James, private; died at Stoneman's Switch. 

Jackson, Stephen, private; mustered out with company. 

Jackson, George F., private; mustered out with company. 

Kantner, Albert, Drivate; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 
22, 1863. 
*Kilton, Robert D., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 
29, 1863. 

Lehman, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Lent?,, Adam, private; mustered out with company. 

Lentz, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*Liavo, Franklin, private; mustered out with company. 
*Levan, John, private; mustered out with company. 
*Laylon, James H., private; mustered out with company. 

Lilly, Simon, private; mustered out with company. 
*Laylon, David R., private: mustered out with company. 
*Longan, John, private: wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
mustered out with company. 

March, Thomas, private; mustered out with company. 

Meyers, John, private; killed at Fredericksbui-g, Dec. 13, 1862. 

Miller, Robert R., private; mustered out with company. 

Moyer, Daniel, private; mustered out with company. 

Mann, David, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
mustered out with company. 

Miller, John H., private; mustered out with company. 

Neyhart, Alva R., private; inustered out with company. 

Neyhart, Artenius, private; mustered out with company. 

*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 263 

*01iver, John C, private; accidentally wounded, Aug. 28, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
Page, Tyrus, private; died at Alexandria, Va., July 5, 1863. 
Piatt, Joseph G., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Nov. 

24, 1S6'2. 
*Renninger, G. P., private; mustered out with company. 
Rush, Jolin D., private; prisoner from May 5-May 22, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
Reader, George W., private; prisoner from May 5-May 22, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
Shaffer, Pharon, private; mustered out with company. 
Sweeley, William, private; mustered out with company. 
Saybolt, George R., private; mustered out with company. 
Sweet, Henry B., private; mustered out with company. 
Stachl, Henry, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, April 16, 

1863. 
Sarvey, John H., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Stonecypher, Samuel, private; died at Washington, D. C, Jan. 2, 

1863. 
Thomas, Bird C,. private; mustered out with company. 
Tanner, Benjamin P., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 

April 16, 1863. 
Warren, Frederick, private; mustered out with company. 
*Willits, Charles W., private; mustered out with company. 
*Wolf, Enos G., private; mustered out with company. 
Welshans, Henry B., private; mustered out with company. 
*Waldron, John, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
Walters, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Wolf, Thomas, private; wounded and missing at Predericlisburg, 

Dec. 13, 1862. 
Vernon, George W., private; deserted Aug. 19, 1862. 
Youngman, A. P., private; prisoner from May 5-May 22, 1863, 

mustered out with company. 
Young, John, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

died at Washington, D. C, Dec. 20, 1862. 



COMPANY H. 

Benjamin F. Keefer, captain; mustered out with company. 
Robert S. Maxwell, first lieutenant; died at Falmouth, Va., Dec. 11, 
1862. 
*De La Green, first lieutenant; wounded at Fredericksburg; promoted 
from second lieutenant, Jan 1, 1863; mustered out with company. 
*W. H. Shoemaker, second lieutenant; promoted from first sergeant, 
Jan. 1, 1863; mustered out with company. 

* Joseph I. Painter, first sergeant; promoted from sergeant, Jan. 1, 

1863; mustered out with company. 
Thomas H. Klstner, sergeant; mustered out with company. 

* William Menges, sergeant; promoted from corporal, Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
Peter Shuler, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
James Walton, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
Miles W. Paul, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Oscar E. Foster, corporal; promoted to corporal, Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
Jeremiah Baker, corporal; promoted to corporal, Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 



■'Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



264 HISTORY OF THE 

Frank P. Coder, corporal; mustered out with company. 

* Jesse B. Dimm, corporal; promoted to corporal, Jan 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
♦George C. Frantz, corporal; promoted to corporal Jan. 1, 1863, 
mustered out with company. 

* Peter Kistner, corporal; mustered out with company. 

♦George W. Rishel, corporal; promoted to corporal, Jan. 1, 1863; 
mustered out with company. 
William Willits, corporal; died Jan. 25, 1863, from wounds received 

at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
William Mohr, musician; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Dec. 2, 

1862. 
Artley, Benjamin, private; mustered out with company. 
Artley, Peter B., private; died at Washington, D. C, Sept. 5, 1862. 
Blaker, Charles W., private; mustered out with company. 
Betts, Simon, private; mustered out with company. 
Bruner, William, private; mustered out with company. 
Bastian, Huston, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Dec. 

12, 1862. 
Burkhart, John F., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 

19, 1863. 
Berger, John, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Bowman, Wash. D., private; died Jan. 6, 1863, of wounds received at 

Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Castleberry, W. C, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Conner, Christopher, private; mustered out with company. 

Childs, Oscar M., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Christine, Robert, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Carter, Christian, pi-ivate; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Oct. 
27, 1862. 
Duncan, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Dieffenderfer, Frank, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862. 
Dimm, Jacob, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
♦Elliott, John, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Eilenberger, Guy, private; mustered out with company. 
Elliott, Robert S,. private; mustered out with company. 
Flick, Charles, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Flick, Joseph, private; mustered out with company. 
Fribley, William W., private; mustered out with company. 
Fry, Stephen, private; mustered out with company. 
Flick, Stephen, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
Gundrum, Wilson, private; mustered out with -company. 
Gudykunst, A. H., private; mustered out with company. 
Gudykunst, Charles L., private; mustered out with company. 
Gower, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 
Grant, William, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 1, 

1863. 
Herlocher, Daniel, private; mustered out with company. 
Hill, David O., private; mustered out with company. 
♦Huston, James, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862; 
absent, sick, at muster-out. 
Haak, James D., private; mustered out with company. 
Hess, Theodore, private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 
♦Hurst, George, private; mustered out with company. 

Hess, Benjamin, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Houseknecht, Benjamin, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
March 2, 1863. 
Herlocher, Ellis, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 



♦Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



13 1 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 265 

Hartzig, John, private; died Jan. 1, 1863, of wounds received at 

Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Haali, John M., private; died at Aquia Creek, Va., Jan. 23, 1863. 
Irvine, Albert, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 13, 

1863. 
Jones, Erastus, private; mustered out with company. 
Koons, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Kraus, Edgar F., private; mustered out xjvlth company. 
*Laylon, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
Little, Albert C, private; deserted Dec. 27, 1862; returned May 27, 

1863; mustered out with company. 
Moyer, Hiram, private; mustered out with company. 
♦Marshall, Jacob, private; captured at Chancellorsville; mustered 

out with company. 
*Menges, Samuel B., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; absent at muster-out. 
*Martinas, George, private; mustered out with company. 
*Mackey, James, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1863; 
mustered out with company. 
McGargle, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Manley, William, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Oct. 

27, 1862. 
Montgomery, R. B., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Dec. 

12, 1862. 
McCarty, Silas, private; mvistered out with company. 
McKean, Robert, private; mustered out with company. 
Norris, Charles H., private; mustered out with company. 
*Painter, Jacob; private; mustered out with company. 
*Peters, Philip, private; mustered out with company. 

Peterman, Frederick C, private; mustered out with company. 
*Quinn, John, private; mustered out with company. 
*Reeder, Merrick, private; mustered out with company. 
*Resh, Christopher, private; mustered out with company. 
Reaser, Amamiah, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 
Rodman, John, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 
Rook, Eston F., private; mustered out with company. 
Smith, Isaac N., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862; mustered out with company. 
*Stead, Timothy, private; mustered out with company. 
Smith, Frederick, private; mustered out with company. 
Shetler, George W., private; mustered out with company. 
Stremmell, Jacob S., private; mustered out with company. 
Shipman, Burtis, private; mustered out with coinpany. 
Stock, Frank, private; mustered out with company. 
Smith, Robert, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Feb. 14, 

1863. 
Taylor, William C, private; mustered out with company. 
*Turner, Jacob B., private; mustered out with company. 
Turner, James, private: died at Falmouth, Va., Dec. 6, 1862. 
Updegraff, Solomon, private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862; mustered out with company. 
Webb, John S., private: mustered out with company. 
Worthington, D. R., private; died at Frederick, Md., Dec. 3, 1862. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead In the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



266 HISTORY OF THE 

COMPANY I. 

William B. Shaut, captain; promoted to lieutenant colonel, Aug. 19, 

1862. 
Frank T. Wilson, captain; promoted from second lieutenant, Sept. 

11, 1862; mustered out with company. 
James M. Wolf, first lieutenant; mustered out with company. 
Albert D. Lundy, second lieutenant; promoted from first sergeant, 
Sept. 11, 1862; mustered out with company. 
* William Agold, first sergeant; promoted from sergeant, Aug. 12, 
1862; mustered out with company. 
H. M. Lloyd; sergeant; mustered out with company. 
*John H. Love, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
Charles W. Nickerson, sergeant; promoted from corporal, Aug. 22, 
1862; mustered out with company. 
*J. E. Perkins, sergeant; promoted from corporal, Jan. 1, 1863; 

mustered out with company. 
Charles E. Miller, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Sylvester Mussina, corporal; mustered out with company. 
William P. Johnson, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*Daniel Bussler, corporal; mustered out with_ company. 
Joseph Kissell, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*John L. Given, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Jeremiah Berry, corporal; mustered out with company. 
Wliliam F. Thompson, corporal; promoted to quartermaster ser- 
geant, Aug. 23, 1862. 
*Henry M. Edwards, corporal; promoted to commissary ser- 
geant, Oct. 25, 1862. 
William B. Hemperly, musician; mustered out with company. 
Andrews, Michael, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered 
out with company. 
*Bailey, Levi, private: mustered out with company. 
*Beugler, James M., private; mustered out with company. 
Buck, John W., private; mustered out with company. 
Buddinger, Hiram, private; inustered out with company. 
*Bitter, William H., private; mustered out with company. 
*Chilson, Peter, private; mustered out with company. 
*Clark, Michael S., private; mustered out with company. 
Cline, Williain, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered out 

with company. 
*Calehoof, Peter, private; mustered out with company. 
Conklin, Myson, private; mustered out with company. 
*Curts, Samuel M., private: mustered out with company. 
Carpenter, William F., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 

Dec. 24, 1862. 
Callahan, Dennis, private; died at Washington, D. C, Jan. 12, 1863, 

of wounds received at Fredericksburg. 
*Dox, Peter O., private; mustered out with company. 
Dixon, William B., private; mustered out with coinpany. 
Essick, Levi, private; mustered out with company. 
Fielder, Albert, private; mustered out with company. 
Funston, Thomas J., private; mustered out with company. 
Fullmer, Aaron C, private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 
Fullmer, Jonathan C, orivate; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 

1862. 
George, H. C, private; mustered out with company. 
Grow, James, private; mustered out with company. 
Good, Abraham, private; mustered out with company. 
Hanford, Harrison, private; mustered out with company. 
*Herod, George, private; mustered out with company. 
Kehler, William H., private; mustered out with company. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



I 31 St PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 267 

Kehler, Sylvester, private; mustered out with company. 

Kehoe, Michael, private; mustered out with company. 
*Longan, A. C, private; mustered out with company. 

Lloyd, John H., private; mustered out with company. 

Lawton, Edward A., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Feb. 6, 1863. 

Miller, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 
*Miller, Michael, private; mustered out with company. 
*McNiel, Nathan, piivate; mustered out with company. 
*McDaniels, William, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Oct. 28, 1862. 

Moore, Grant S., private; discharged for wounds received at Fred- 
ericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862. 

McMurray, Richard, private; died near Fredericksburg, Dec. 20 ,1862. 

Newcomer, H. B., private; mustered out with company. 

Norton, Edmund S., private; mustered out with company. 

Parker, George W., private; mustered out with company. 
*Pierson, Josiah, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 28, 
1863. 

Rank, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Riggle, George, private; mustered out with company. 
*Riggl3, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Riggle, Daniel, private; discharged Jan. 7, 1863, for wounds re- 
ceived at F^redericksburg. 

Rhoads, Samuel S., private; mustered out with company. 

Ramsey, Thomas J., private; mustered out with company. 
*Shadle, George W., private; mustered out with company. 
*Shadle, Valentine, private; mustered out with company. 
*Stoltz, William H., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Oct. 
6, 1862. 

Stanchfield, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, Richard, private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, James, private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, Joseph, private; mustered out with company. 
*Siegle, Frederick, private; inustered out with company. 

Staver, William, private; mustered out with company. 

Stradley, Richard, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered 
out with company. 
*Strad]ey, Archibald, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered 
cut with company. 

Stewart, Abraham, private; mustered out with company. 

Sechler, Hammond, private; mustered out with company. 
'Sechler, Elias, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered ouT 
with company. 

Stiyker, Henry, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered out 
with company. 

Staffon, .Tohn, private; mustered out with company. 
'Slagenwhite, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 
'""I'lnsman, A. J., private; mustered out with company. 

IJlman, L. A., private; mustered out with company 

Vorhis, A. B., private; mustered out with company. 

Winegardner, Thomas, private; mustered out with company. 
*VV'agonhurst, Simon, private; muste''ed out with company. 
"Wigant, Geo'-gf, private; mustered out with company. 

Wolf, George B., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Dec. 
30, 1862. 

Werline, J. P., private; absent, sick, at muster-out. 

Webb. R. M., private; mustered out with company. 

Wolf, O. W., private; wounded at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 186'.i: 
mustered out with company. 

Yost. William B., private; mustered out with company. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



268 HISTORY OF THE 

COMPANY K. 

Joseph S. Waream, captain; wounded at Fredericksburg; mustered 
out with company. 
*Grant T. Waters, first lieutenant; wounded at Fredericksburg; dis- 
charged March 7, 1863. 
*David B. Weber, first lieutenant; promoted from second lieutenant 
March 8, 1863; mustered out with company. 
A. B. Selheimer, second lieutenant; promoted from first sergeant, 

March 8, 1863; mustered out with company. 
William A. Nelson, first sergeant; promoted from corporal 

March 8, 1863; mustered out with company. 
William Lochart, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
George S. Morrison, sergeant; wounded at Fredericksburg; absent, 
in hospital, at muster-out. 
*Josiah W. Kennedy, sergeant; wounded at Fredericksburg; absent, 

in hospital, at muster-out. 
*William D. Wooden, sergeant; mustered out with company. 
* James C. Dysart, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*Thomas Cox, corporal; mustered out with company. 
*Theodore B. Smith, corporal; mustered out with company. 
C. H. Henderson, corporal; promoted to corporal, Dec. 2, 1862; 

mustered out with company. 
William R. Wallis, corporal: discharged on surgeon's certificate, 

Jan. 30, 1863. 
♦Robert H. Junkin, corporal; promoted to corporal — discharged on 

surgeon's certificate, Jan. 30, 1863. 
*John Hughes, corporal; promoted to corporal; discharged; expira- 
tion of term. 
Dallas Fichthorn, musician; mustered out with company. 
George Myers, musician; discharged on surgeon's certificate, April 2, 

1863. 
*Beaver, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
*Bumbaugh, Jacob, private; mustered out with company. 
Bower, John A., private; mustered out with company. 
Ball, Amos T., private; wounded at Fredericksburg; absent, in hos- 
pital, at muster-out. 
Berryhill, Samuel H., private; mustered out with company. 
Burns, Alexander, private; mustered out with company. 
*Bortell, Albert H., private; mustered out with company. 
Chestnut, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
Cameron, Thomas J., private; mustered out with company. 
*Carpenter, Gabriel, private; mustered out with company. 
Cupples, Henry H., private; mustered out with company. 
Crissman, Potter, private; mustered out with company. 
Crawford, Joseph W., private; mustered out with company. 
Crawford, John, private; mustered out with company. 
Duck, Peter, private; wounded at Fredericksburg; absent, in hos- 
pital, at muster-out. 
Druckenmiller, John, private; died at Fort Schuyler, N. Y., Jan. 11, 
1863. 
*Derenwechter, George, private; mustered out with company. 
*Elliott, James P., private; mustered out with company. ' 
*Ewing, James, private; mustered out with company. 
*Freeburn, George, private; mustered out with company. 
*Fichthorn, Lewis, private; mustered out with company. 
Felix, William H., private; mustered out with company. 
Fisher, Albert, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, Jan. 30, 

1863. 
Finkle, Samuel, private; mustered out with company. 
French, William C, private; muster-ed out with company. 



*Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



J3ist PENNA. VOLUNTEERS. 269 

*Forsythe, Robert, private; mustered out with company. 

Forsythe, John, private; mustered out with company. 

Flecli, William, private: mustered out with company. 

Fisher. Jacob, private; died at Washington, D. C, Dec. 31, 1862. 
*Galbraith, John D., private; mustered out with company. 

Gill, James, private; mustered out w'ith company. 

Gunter, Abram, private; mustered out with company. 
*Ginnifen, James, private; mustered out with company. 

Hawk, William J., private; mustered out with company. 
*Hesser, James R., private; mustered out with company. 
*Helnian, Howard, private; mustered out with company. 
*Hug'hes, James, private; mustered out with company. 
*Harvey, William A., private; mustered out with company. 

Himmelright, George, private; mustered out with company. 
*Houser, Joseph, private; mustered out with company. 

Jenner, John W., private; mustered out with company. 

Kershaw, Albert, private; died at Sharpsburg, Md., Oct. 24, 1862. 
*Loudenslager, Peter, private; mustered out with company. 

Long, Isaac, private mustered out with company. 

Morgan, Thomas, private; mustered out with company. 
*Miller, Charles, private; mustered out with company. 

Morton, Lewis R., private; mustered out with company. 
*Moyer, Israel, private; mustered out with company. 
^Miller, John S., private; deserted Sept. 16, 1862. 
*McCullough, John, private; mustered out with company. 
"McLaughlin, James V., private; mustered out with company. 

McKinstry, James A., private; mustered out with company. 

Noll, Emanuel, private; mustered out with company. 
*Pedin, Alexander, private; mustered out with company. 

Postlethwaite, Thomas A., private; killed at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 
1862. 

Richards, AVilllam, private; mustered out with company. 

Rothrock, Samuel A., private; mustered out with company. 

Riden, Augustus, private; mustered out with company. 
*Stamm, Williamj private; mustered out with company. 

Selheimer, Oliver P., private; mustered out with company. 

Swyers, William, private; mustered out with company. 
*.Steidle, Jo-^^eph, private; mustered out with company. 

Stroup, M. P., private; mustered out with company. 
*Sager, John A., private; mustered out with company. 

Sherman, Henry, private; mustered out with company. 

Smith, James A., private; died Nov. 16, 1862; buried in National 
Cemetery, Antietam, Md. 

Stauber, Benjamin T., private; mustered out with company. 

Snyder, George A., private; mustered out with company. 

Spigelmoyer, V. W., private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
Jan. 29, 1863. 

Steinburger, H. J., private; deserted Oct 24, 1862. 

Summers, Hosea, private; deserted Aug. 15, 1862. 
*Till, Albert C, private; mustered out with company. 
*Vanzandt, William A., private; mustered out with company. 

Wilson, Alfred, private; mustered out with company. 

Waream, John A., private mustered out with company. 

Wagner, Edward, private; mustered out with company. 

Womer, George, private; mustered out with company. 

Wagner, Jackson, private; discharged on surgeon's certificate, 
March 13, 1863. 

Yarlett, David, private; mustered out with company. 

♦Died since muster-out. Those who are noted as dead in the re- 
marks are not marked with star. 



REUNIONS HELD. 

On December 13, 1874, a number of the comrades met at Sunbury 
and organized the 131st Regimental Association, which met annu- 
ally at the following places and upon the following dates: 

1. Sunbury Dec. 13, 1874 

2. Milton Dec. 14, 1875 

3. Lewistown Dec. 13, 1876 

4. Watsontown Dec. 13, 1877 

5. Williamsport Dec. 13, 1878 

6. Mifflinburg Dec. 13, 1879 

7. Sunbury Dec. 14, 1880 

8. Milton Dec. 13, 1881 

9. Selinsgrove Sept. 13, 1882 

10. Muncy Dec 13, 1883 

11. Lewistown Dec. 13, 1884 

12. Watsontown Dec. 15, 1885 

13. Williamsport Dec. 14, 1886 

14. Milton Dec. 13, 1887 

15. Shamokin Dec. 13, 1888 

16. Selinsgrove Dec. 13, 1889 

17. Muncy Dec. 12, 1890 

18. Lewisburg Dec. 16, 1891 

19. Washington, D. C, Sept. 20, 1892 

20. Lewistown Dec. 13 and 14, 1893 

21. Williamsport Dec. 13 and 14, 1894 

22. Milton Dec. 13 and 14, 1895 

23. Selinsgrove Dec. 15 and 16, 1896 

24. Shamokin Dec. 14 and 15, 1897 

25. Lewisburg Dec. 13 and 14, 1898 

26. Middleburg Sept. 19 and 20, 1899 

27. Watsontown Sept. 18 and 19, 1900 

28. Muncy Sept. 17 and 18, 1901 

29. Milton Sept. 17 and 18, 1902 



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